LWTA: The Young Avengers
by WayToDawn324
Summary: In the fourth installment of Living With the Avengers: SHIELD has fallen, and the Avengers are falling apart, too. Laynie Stark and Carter Banner are left to their own devices as their parents bury themselves in the search for Loki's staff. Just when they're losing hope for their Young Avengers dream, an old friend comes out of the shadows to lend a hand.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, welcome to the newest installment of the LWTA series! If you're just joining in, you might want to go to our profile page and read the previous installments. This one depends on the backstory maybe more than any of the others, so a lot of this won't make sense unless you've read the previous stories. Thanks for reading!

* * *

"So, have you ever been in love before?"

Carter lifted an eyebrow at Noh-Varr. "Noh-Varr, Laynie and I specifically told you no alcohol was allowed at this party." Carter said, raising her voice to be heard over the music.

He leaned on the bar, giving her his most suave smile. "Oh I'm not drunk on alcohol, Carter, I'm drunk in love."

"You got _no_ moves," Sam remarked from the other side of the bar.

"Oh my gosh," Carter laughed, shoving his shoulder. "Go away, just go away."

As he was walking away, he looked over his shoulder, winked, and called, "Happy birthday babe!"

Carter leaned against the bar and shook her head as she watched him go.

"Is that guy harassing you again?"

Carter jumped, turning in her seat and squealing. "Peter! I didn't think you were coming!"

He laughed while she hugged him. "Well I'm pretty good at sneaking out of the house by now. Where's Laynie at?"

"Oh, you know Laynie. She's off socializing. I don't do that kind of stuff, given that I don't actually like people that much." Carter shrugged.

"Right," Peter said thoughtfully, sitting beside her. "People. Horrible, terrible people. You _shouldn't_ socialize."

"I really shouldn't. They're just awful, all of them."

"Even me?"

"Eh," Carter said noncommittally, "It depends on the day."

Sam watched them with a sly smile. "So, how long have you two been together?" He teased.

"What? What, no! No, no, no." Carter shook her head.

Peter's face turned bright red. "Sam! We're not dating. We're just friends."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, okay. ' _Just friends_.' Whatever you say."

Across the room, Laynie was sending Noh-Varr away for similar charges of terrible pickup lines. "Go pick on someone your own age!" she called after him. He threw a grin over his shoulder.

"It's a good thing he's ridiculously terrible with pickup lines, because that boy is _fine_ ," Kate said with a sigh, watching him disappear into the crowd. "Have you talked to your parents about the team anymore?"

"They kind of tune us out when we talk about it now. I'm not sure about Bruce, but I know my dad is ready to punch me the next time I bring it up."

"But they'll come around eventually, right? We can all handle ourselves, and the city needs more than we can each give alone."

Laynie sighed, tugging at the bottom of her unusually short skirt. She had talked herself into a silver-sequin covered dress, telling herself that she's seventeen and it's her birthday party and she can get away with it. But the more boys commented on it and flirted with her, the more she regretted it. "Yeah, I think they will. We just have to keep wearing them down. I just wish there was some way we could prove ourselves."

"Like we haven't already," Kate scoffed.

"No, I mean, yeah, we have. But we need something more dramatic. A real-life situation."

"Well—"

The music was cut suddenly, and Kate's words with it. Laynie swore under her breath.

Sam laughed nervously and gave Carter a wink. "Well, gotta go." He stood from the bar and melted into a crowd of teenagers.

"Oh no," Carter muttered. She grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him behind the bar.

"I thought the Avengers weren't going to be back until tomorrow," Peter whispered urgently.

Carter groaned. "Yeah, so did we."

"What in the world is going on here?" Steve asked. His voice boomed from the doorway and echoed around the entire main floor. He stood with his shoulders squared, shield on his back in full Captain America regalia. There was a bruise forming on his cheek.

Not one person would answer him.

Steve narrowed his eyes. "Anyone who doesn't live here, leave. Now."

Peter stood and jumped over the bar, trying to escape unnoticed. As he passed by Steve, he caught his arm and said, "Not you."

Peter groaned.

Within three minutes, only Laynie, Carter, Kate, and Peter were left. Noh-Varr had somehow escaped with the crowd. Steve looked over the four teens, sitting at the bar and trying to avoid eye contact. He stared them down for a moment, and realized there was a missing culprit. "Sam! Front and center!"

They heard the bathroom door slam, and he came scrambling out of the hallway. He make the worst surprised face as he walked in, pretending he had absolutely no knowledge of the party. He stopped to purse his lips and shake his head at the teens. "Man, I go to the bathroom for five minutes and you go pullin' stuff like this? Ya'll are grounded. All of you. Like..." he turned and looked at Steve. "Three months."

Steve leveled a stare at him.

Sam shifted on his feet uncomfortably, trying to hold up his front. "Can you believe them?" He laughed. "Kids these days, man."

Steve was really not amused. "Really, Sam?"

Sam continued to shift back and forth, slowly inching toward the elevators. "You know what? I'm gonna go up to my room."

He nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"Not because you told me to or anything," he called. "You don't scare me!"

Steve sighed and turned to the four. "You have about three minutes to explain this to me before your parents come upstairs."

"I think I'd rather explain it to my dad," Laynie said with her hand raised.

"Too bad."

Laynie looked to her friends for help. There was none to be found. Finally, after eating up as much of her three minutes as she could, she spluttered, "Well Dad told us to throw a party!"

"He was being _sarcastic_ , Laynie. Even I got that."

"At least we didn't break anything," Carter said.

Steve turned to the side and gestured to the glass coffee table, which had hairline cracks starting in the middle and spreading throughout it.

"Okay, but _we_ didn't break it."

"And we didn't drink or anything!" Laynie added.

"There's empty beer bottles all over the place!"

"But we didn't drink them! Or buy them!"

He sighed, carefully sitting on the edge of the cracked coffee table. "I think you guys are missing the point."

"Whoa," Bruce said slowly, picking his way through the carnage. "What—what happened here? Carter?"

"Oh, haha, heeey, Bruce. How are you?"

"What happened?" he repeated.

"It was just a small party, that's all."

"Small?" Steve questioned incredulously.

"Yes, compared to every other party ever thrown in this house, that was small."

Steve shot Laynie a glare, and she quieted down.

"What on earth possessed you to think this was a good idea?" Bruce asked, sitting beside Steve.

"Dad _told_ us to," Laynie said.

As Tony walked in, giving the group and the room a perplexed look, Steve said, "Tony! They're claiming you gave them permission to throw a party."

He nodded slowly, surveying the room. "Well, they could have done worse. How many people did you invite?"

"Ehh, fifty?" Laynie looked to Carter, who nodded. "Yeah, about fifty. But a lot of them brought dates."

Tony nodded. "Drinking?"

"Nope."

"Break anything?"

"Well, technically, no. I think Steve should be blamed for the table because he made everyone clear out so fast."

"He used his scary voice," Carter agreed.

Tony grabbed a bottle off the bar and sniffed it. "Well, someone had alcohol. Not any of mine. This stuff is crap." He set the bottle on the table, and the cracks widened a bit. He patted Steve on the shoulder as he passed, and the table shattered.

Bruce and Steve went through, legs and arms caught on the frame as they hit the floor.

The four teenagers at the bar tried _so_ hard not to laugh, but they couldn't control themselves after Bruce burst into hysterics.

Laynie stopped abruptly as she met eyes with her father, who was not happy. He gestured for her to follow as he walked toward the lab. She sighed, slipped off the barstool, and followed.

He collapsed into a chair downstairs, giving Laynie a discontented look. "Was the party your idea?"

She sat down across from him with a thin smile. "No, it was yours."

"Cut the crap, please. Why are you doing this stuff? You're acting like Carter, honestly! I'm not sure what to do with you anymore."

"Well let's go over it." Laynie adjusted her short skirt again, then put her right index finger on her left thumb and tilted her head as she spoke, pretending to think really hard. "The organization my mom devoted her entire life to was destroyed. Natasha is missing. There's a new _Avenger_ , and nobody even told me until he was moved in. Wade is missing! There was another thing. Oh, what was it... Oh yeah. You put off your wedding to hunt down Loki's staff and I haven't seen Pepper in weeks! Bruce and Sam are the only ones around anymore, I don't even get to see you!"

"Are you saying you have a valid excuse to be acting out? You are better than this! Do you really think I'd ever let you have that suit when you're behaving like this?"

"Maybe if you'd let me have the suit in the first place I wouldn't be acting like this!"

"That's not how this works, Laynie." Tony lowered his voice, leaning back in his chair. "You don't get to manipulate me into doing things. All you've done is proved to me that you aren't ready for the responsibility."

"I have never given you any reason not to trust me."

Tony set his jaw. "You've snuck out of the house twelve times. _Not_ including prison break and Christmas Eve. Now this?"

Laynie fell silent, biting at her lip. "Are we done?"

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Sure, yeah, we're done. You can clean up that mess tomorrow. For now, go to sleep." Tony got up and walked toward the elevator. "School tomorrow."

"Thanks. Good night," she spat.

Laynie took the stairs, partially to avoid her dad, partially to walk off her anger. She muttered to herself up four flights to her apartment, holding her skirt down. The sequins cut into her palms.

She thought it astronomically unfair that, with _his_ history and self-destructive habits, he had the _nerve_ to tell her _she_ was being irresponsible. His defining characteristic was irresponsibility!

Laynie heard her friends through the door of her apartment and stopped to cool off for a minute before going in. She crashed into her couch kicking off her heels with a sigh.

"I thought we were going to die," Peter said from the floor. "I saw Steve and then I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"It's even worse now that they know that you're Spider-Man," Carter giggled.

"You're telling me," Peter huffed.

They were caught off guard when they heard a knocking on the window. Looking toward the window, they saw Noh-Varr standing on the ledge outside their apartment, grinning and waving.

"Oh alien boy, you are so lucky to have gotten out of that one," Kate told him as she opened the window, letting him in.

After crash-landing in the middle of Midtown High in January, Noh-Varr spent some quality time with SHIELD before its fall. Once he had been cleared to stay on earth, Laynie and Carter had quickly befriended him. He was a few years older than even Peter, who would graduate in a week. He had striking green eyes that stood out when compared to his silver hair, normally kept in a neat bun on his head. Beyond that, he was a hopeless flirt.

"Gee, thanks for sticking up for us, Noh-Varr," Carter said from the couch.

"I didn't want to endanger my permission to stay here on earth."

"Oh, sure, fine," Laynie said. "You just bail whenever you need to."

He sat cross-legged on the floor beside Kate. "Thank you, I will."

Laynie scooted off the couch to sit beside Peter. In a hushed tone, she asked, "Any news on Wade?"

"Nothing since you asked last night. Laynie, I promise, if I hear anything you'll be the first to know."

She sighed and walked to the kitchen.

"So, Young Avengers initiative," Peter said, laying back on the carpet. "Any progress?"

"That would be a negative." Carter yawned. "They mostly just ignore us whenever it's brought up. We thought about talking to them about it tomorrow, but after this I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"It's never going to happen," Laynie called from the kitchen. "Our parents are set on it." She came back with a package of little chocolate milk cartons. She threw one to each of her friends, then flopped on the couch.

"Let's not talk about that," Kate said. "It's not your birthdays, technically, and your party was kinda crashed, but we're still celebrating! I'd like to make a toast." She punched the plastic straw into her carton. "To Laynie and Carter's seventeenth birthdays, and the last week of school."

Everybody whacked their milk cartons together.


	2. Chapter 2

The last week of school passed quickly, especially since they skipped the last half of the day three times out of five. The Avengers left on a mission halfway through Monday, and they each came and went at intervals. To Laynie, it seemed that nobody cared anymore whether she and Carter were even supervised or not.

Kate often was with Clint, and Clint was often missing completely. He didn't go on half of the missions anymore, yet he was never at home. Steve and Sam, between looking for Steve's crazy murder friend and false leads on Loki's staff, were never home. When Thor wasn't looking for his brother's staff, he was with Jane, and most often not in the tower. Pepper was bouncing around the world, pretending to take care of the company when in reality, she was avoiding her fiance.

More and more, that left Laynie alone. Even though Carter was still almost constantly at her side, she _felt_ alone. She would sometimes lay in her bed and watch TV for hours on end. She constantly felt tired, but she never slept. The littlest things would set her off, like the sound of Carter's video games in the living room of their shared apartment.

Bruce came home at the end of their last week of school, and he took Carter out to celebrate her personal record-breaking good grades. While they were gone, and she had the apartment to herself, Laynie took a blanket and her phone to the center of the apartment. She laid in a patch of evening sunshine and tried to relax.

Then her phone rang.

She answered it without looking, and her heart nearly came out of her throat when she heard the voice on the other end.

" _Laynie? Are you there?_ "

"Pepper? Where are you? Why are you calling?" She sat up straight.

" _I'm about to take off out of Hong Kong. I've been placating some stockholders. Nobody is happy about Stark Industries helping SHIELD rebuild, apparently_."

Rebuild was a loose term. Tony was covering the damage expenses and using his armada of lawyers to help Maria navigate her way out of the legal hell Hyrdra left in it's wake.

" _Laynie, are you there_?"

She nodded, then cleared the lump out of her throat and spoke. "Yeah, I'm here."

Pepper hesitated for a moment. " _I just wanted to see how you're doing._ "

Laynie clenched her jaw and lied through her teeth. "Great. Everything's fine. Tomorrow is the last day of school, then Peter's graduation."

" _Great, that sounds good. Give him my congratulations._ "

There was a long, awkward silence.

"When are you coming home?"

Another silence.

" _Laynie, honey.._."

"Are you ever coming back?"

There was a crackle on the other end of the line. " _I will come back. It's not like I won't ever see you again._ "

"But you aren't marrying Tony?"

" _It's gotten very complicated. Right now I don't know what the future-_ "

"Pepper, it's not that complicated. Do you love him?"

She didn't answer. " _I have to go, or the plane will take off without me. I'll talk to you soon, okay_?"

Laynie hung up.

She flopped back on the carpet and rubbed the heels of her palms in her eyes until she could convince herself she wouldn't cry. No matter how many times she told herself it wasn't her fault, she felt like Pepper had abandoned her. "JARVIS?"

" _Yes Miss Stark?_ "

"Is Thor here?"

" _No_."

"Is Kate here? Clint?"

" _No_. _You and I seem to be the only ones home._ "

She nodded and rolled over on her stomach to follow the shifting patch of sun. She faced the wall, and the blue planter sitting against it. After laying and staring at it for a while, she sat up and looked inside.

She had bought a dying succulent plant the last time she was out, and it still wasn't looking so good. The round leaves were wrinkled on the edges, and the bottommost ones had turned brown. Propping her chin on the edge of the planter, she stared at the plant and willed it to live.

"I heard plants actually benefit from being talked to," she said quietly. "I'm going to name you Arnold. You look like an Arnold to me."

She waited for a moment, and realized the plant was not going to talk back.

"You seem like a good listener, Arnold. Can I trust you with some secrets?" She took Arnold's silence as a yes. "I miss my mom. She and I only ever fought once, and we made up before we went to bed that night. Tony doesn't seem to care if we ever make up." She quirked her mouth to the side, starting to wish the plant would give her some advice. "I know it's my fault. I just don't care anymore, y'know? I'm doing stuff that I know will get me in trouble and I don't even care. I just wish he'd let me have the suit. I'm ready for it. Nat, wherever she is, taught me everything she knows. Steve taught me how to use his shield, Kate taught me how to use her bow, and my dad taught me how to use the suit. Why would he do that if he had no intention of letting me use it, anyway? Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either."

She scratched at the scars on her wrist. When she caught herself, she held it up and showed Arnold. "Therapist says I do that because the memories of being kidnapped, induced by stress, PTSD, blah blah, but they itch." She scratched them again, careful not to open the scabs she'd been accumulating for weeks. "And I'm sure the fact that it only itches when I'm distressed is completely coincidental."

"I don't know what to do anymore," she confided to Arnold. "I want my old life back. This was okay for a while... I convinced myself Tony could replace my mom, but it's not true. I miss Mom and Coulson and Mr. and Mrs. Beckett. I want it all back. I don't want people to follow me home to take pictures for magazines. I don't want my blog to have eight hundred thousand followers. I don't want to feel like this anymore, but I don't know how to stop."

She leaned against the wall and sighed. "You're a good friend, Arnold."


	3. Chapter 3

As Peter took the stage, his family and friends shouted and cheered in an almost embarrassing way. They could see how red his cheeks were all the way from the audience.

"Yay Peter!" Carter shouted happily.

"Whoo!" Laynie cheered.

"Congratulations Mr. Parker," The principal said as she shook Peter's hand.

"Thank you." Peter gave him an awkward nod before rushing off the stage.

After the graduation ceremony, Peter met up with his aunt and everyone else. Carter and Laynie had ended up bringing along Kate, who brought Noh-Varr. He was bombarded by hugs and congratulations from them all.

"Can you guys be any more embarrassing?" Peter asked. "Seriously, no one was louder than you guys."

Carter snorted. "What do you expect when you're friends with us?"

"So how does it feel to be a high school graduate?" Laynie asked with a grin.

"Liberating. You know what? I think I'll rub it in your face as often as possible."

"Rude," Carter said, pouting.

Peter laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders. "You know I'm mostly kidding."

"So, back to the tower now?" Kate asked.

"Yep!" Laynie nodded.

"Wait, what?" Peter said, looking confused. "Why are we going to the tower?"

"For your graduation party!" Carter announced.

"I thought we were doing that back at my house," He looked to his Aunt May for an explanation.

"Oh, your friends offered and they were so excited, I just couldn't say no." Aunt May smiled.

"It was Carter's idea," Laynie said, outing her friend. "She and Kate organized most of it."

Peter looked down to the girl, who was still trapped under his arm. "Thanks Carter."

She ducked away from him and slugged him in the arm. "Don't get all sentimental on me."

He stared at her for a second, a smile creeping across his face.

"No. Peter, don't."

Carter tried to turn and run, but Peter was way too fast. He swooped forward and grabbed her around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides, and held her off the ground while he hugged her. "Is this sentimental enough for you?"

"Peter!" she shouted, laughing. "Put me down!"

He plopped her on her feet and backed away.

Carter huffed slightly. "Well, come on, let's get going." She started walking toward the parking lot.

Just a little while later, they were in the elevator headed up to the main floor of the tower. When the doors opened, Noh-Varr jumped out and shouted "Surprise!" and gave Peter an uncomfortably long hug.

Peter wrinkled his nose. He and Noh-Varr got along well enough, but Peter had a bad habit of trying to one-up everything the other did. The girls couldn't understand it, so they chalked it up to some guy thing and tried to ignore it.

"Thanks Noh-Varr." Peter patted his shoulder, and he backed off. Only then were they allowed to file out of the elevator.

The girls' apartment had been decorated with the appropriate blue and black decor, complete with a small cake and a banner. Clint and Sam, though somewhat unwilling, had been persuaded to make an appearance.

"I'm going to get the drinks," Carter announced, stepping back into the elevator. "Because someone forgot. I'm not naming any names but _Clint_."

He groaned rather dramatically. "I don't even know why I'm here, let alone why I would bring drinks."

"Certainly not because I'm a tiny chicken-armed girl! But you know, whatever."

At the last second, Peter jumped on the elevator with her. "I'll help, chicken arms."

"Not funny, Peter."

He laughed, clearly thinking the opposite.

"So, Aunt May said something about you still thinking about which colleges you were going to send out applications to."

"Yeah," Peter sighed, "I'm not sure I really want to go to college yet." The elevator stopped, and they got off at the main living area. "But Aunt May wants me to go and I'm not sure how I'll explain why I'm not sending out applications yet."

Carter handed Peter cartons of soda one at a time, and he put them all on the counter. "Why don't you just tell her you're taking a year off or something?" Carter asked, handing him the last carton of soda.

"I don't know. We always talked about me going to college right after high school." Peter sighed, leaning against the counter.

"I'm sure Aunt May will understand. As long as you're happy, I think she will be." She grinned at him, leaning into the counter beside him, and nudged him with her shoulder. "Right?"

Peter smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks Carter."

"No problem."

Carter suddenly became aware of how close they were to each other, but Peter was leaning in even closer, and she was frozen. She told herself not to, over and over, but it was like she wasn't in control of her own body. She leaned in too.

Just before their lips were about to brush together, she pulled away quickly, putting a hand on Peter's chest and backing away until her arm was straight. "Wait, Peter, we can't do this."

He nodded, stepping away. "You're right. We're friends. _Just_ friends. Right?"

"Right." Carter murmured. Her cheeks felt hot.

"Right," Peter said again, even quieter.

Carter turned and grabbed another carton off the counter, then rushed back toward the elevator.

After the party, Carter left her apartment and went to Bruce's. After he called for her to come in, she wordlessly went to the couch where he was and sat beside him.

"Hey, what's got you down?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it. Thinking for a minute, she said, "So, I like this person…"

"Oh," Bruce sat up, paying a little more attention to the current conversation.

"But, there's a problem."

"What problem?" He asked.

"I like him and I'm pretty sure he likes me too, but we're really good friends and what if it ruins our friendship?"

Bruce took a deep breath, staring off while he considered the problem. "Well, you only have about two good friends who are boys. And you aren't allowed to date Noh-Varr. So unless this boy is someone I've somehow never heard about, we're talking about Peter?"

"Since when am I not allowed to date Noh-Varr?"

"Since he was at least three years older than you. In _space years_. He could be my age for all we know."

"Bruce!"

"Okay, okay. Moving on. So, you like Peter." He was silent for a moment. "I like Peter. He's a smart young man, and he's very kind. I like him much better than your last pick."

" _Bruce!_ " Carter groaned, "I came to you because I thought you would tell me I'm not allowed to date him. You're supposed to have my back, man."

"Oh, well excuse me. Let me tell you what you want to hear, then. Peter is a year older than you, and he's Spider-Man, which makes him dangerous. You are absolutely never to date him under any circumstances. Am I understood?"

"Yes, thank you!" Carter fell back into the couch with a sigh.

"You're very welcome. Now go to your room, young lady."

"No, thanks." She stretched herself out across the couch laying her legs in Bruce's lap.

He patted her legs and went back to his reading. "All right then."


	4. Chapter 4

This is where it really starts to get exciting, guys! Thanks so much for the favorites and reviews so far. Check back daily for updates, and let us know what you think!

* * *

Laynie and Carter stuck their heads in the main living area, looking around for signs of life. They had just come home from shopping for a few summer necessities, and the house was significantly quieter than it had been when they left.

"Girls?" Bruce called. "I'm the only one home."

"Emergency mission?" Laynie asked, flopping into a chair.

"Yep. China. They got a lead on Loki's staff."

"And you're here because...?"

"To keep an eye on you two. Tony is worried you're on the verge of doing something stupid." He eyeballed Laynie specifically.

"We're always on the verge of doing something stupid, Bruce. I mean really."

"She's right," Laynie agreed. "And there's nothing you can do to stop us. It's inevitable."

"So as the sun sets every day... Laynie and Carter do something stupid," he muttered.

"So you understand then?" Carter sat next to him on the couch.

Bruce snorted. "I think I've got the basic idea."

The girls lounged with Bruce for a while, doing homework and goofing off on the internet.

" _Excuse me_ " JARVIS called. " _But I believe you would like to see this_."

The television turned on to the news channel, where a camera was watching from the air as Peter got his butt kicked. Doc Ock, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, the Lizard and the Green Goblin had apparently teamed up and cornered Peter, throwing him back and forth like a rag doll.

"JARVIS, call Kate and Noh-Varr." Laynie whipped her head around to look at Bruce. "Bruce, please, I need my suit."

His eyes widened. "No, no way Laynie. I'm here to keep an eye on you, not to help you do exactly what your dad doesn't want you to."

"Bruce! Peter's going to die if someone doesn't help him! Kate and Noh-Varr won't be enough, not against all of them."

Carter grabbed a hold of his arm. "Bruce, please. Peter's our best friend. He needs help." She pleaded.

"It's too dangerous," Bruce shook his head.

"Please Bruce," Laynie begged.

He looked helplessly between the two girls. "I can't help you get your suit. I also can't tell you he wrote down the password for the vault because he didn't want to forget it. Or that he put it in his nightstand."

Laynie threw her arms around Bruce's neck. "Thank you. Carter, get my laptop and go up to our apartment. JARVIS has a setup all ready for you."

Laynie ran up the stairs to her dad's apartment while Carter took the elevator. She tore through his nightstand, not caring if he knew later that she'd gone through it. Finally, she found a tiny slip of paper in the bottom drawer. She read it a few times, shoved it in her pocket, and ran downstairs.

She really would rather not suit up in her stiff blue jeans, but she didn't have time to change. So she punched the password in and watch the cylindrical vault roll open on her suit. For a moment, she hesitated putting the suit on. She could really only imagine how furious her dad would be when he found out, but she had no option. This wasn't about rebellion—Peter _needed_ help.

Laynie turned her back to the suit and put her arms out. The suit opened on its own and closed around her. The HUD loaded quickly, booting up JARVIS and working on the virtual environment mapping.

"Can you hear me Carter?"

" _Loud and clear_."

"Get me an address."

Laynie turned to leave the armory and stopped when she saw Bruce standing in the doorway. "Laynie, be safe."

She nodded once. "I'll try not to give my dad reason to kill you."

" _Noh-Varr and Kate are close_ ," Carter said.

"I'll be right there." Laynie stood on the launch pad, looking out at the city. "This is my first time flying outside."

" _Well, good luck with that. Don't hit any buildings, don't hit any people, and don't hit any birds. If you can do that, I'd say it's a success._ "

She took a deep breath. "Gotcha." Taking a little bit of a running start, Laynie dove off the launch pad and managed to get above the buildings. Thankfully, there wasn't much to hit, and she was good at flying straight lines. Getting down to the streets again was another story. She stumbled into a landing, right in the center of the circle of villains.

" _Take Ock out first if you can_ ," Carter said.

Laynie turned and blasted two of Doctor Octopus's legs out from under him, catching him off guard and causing him to fall.

" _Noh-Varr's coming in on your left._ "

"I'm getting Peter then. Tell him to keep Ock busy."

" _I just linked you up. Tell him yourself._ "

Laynie told Kate to take a bird's eye position where she could be the most useful, but not to get too close. Noh-Varr would blast his plasma guns at Doc Ock's tentacles, doing nothing but keeping him occupied and ticking him off.

When Ock lost his concentration, he threw Peter. Laynie blasted off and grabbed him out of the air before he could collide with a building.

"Ow," he groaned.

Laynie set him down on his feet, keeping a hand on his shoulder to be sure he wouldn't fall. There were cuts all over his suit, big and little from being grabbed by Ock and attacked by Lizard.

"So Doctor Octopus is planning something, huh?"

He laughed a little, trying to catch his breath more than anything. "Yeah. Meet the Sinister Six."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah- I'm just maybe going to throw up. And also maybe have a concussion or two."

Laynie flipped up her face plate, holding Peter's shoulder and stooping to look into the big white eyes of his mask. "Peter, do I need to take you to Carter now or will you wait on the sidelines while we take care of these guys?"

He brushed some dirt off his chest and stood as tall as he could, feeling dwarfed by Laynie's tall suit. "I'm going to help. For as long as I can."

" _At least give him an earpiece_ ," Carter sighed.

Laynie flipped open a small hatch on her left arm, pulling out an earpiece for him. "Keep in contact. Carter is there to help us, and JARVIS is there to help her."

He carefully pulled up one side of his mask to stick it in his ear. "Okay." He held his fist out toward Laynie. "Let's do this."

She bumped his fist with her metal-coated one, and they both leaped into the fray.

"Laynie!" Peter called. "Take care of Electro— your suit is insulated, right?"

"Right! That's brilliant. Help Noh-Varr out, would you?"

" _Lizard is down,_ " Kate announced. " _Moving in on Mysterio._ "

" _Noh-Varr, Green Goblin is escaping,_ " Carter said.

There was a collective groan. The little team was having troubles keeping the remaining five in one area long enough to make an attack. Spidey was the only one quick and lithe enough to weave in and around Ock's tentacles without getting hurt, but the good doctor wouldn't go down. Kate was wasting arrows on the illusions Mysterio surrounded her in, and Noh-Varr was nowhere to be seen.

Laynie grunted and closed her eyes as Electro sent another blast of electricity at her. She could feel hair on her arms and neck raise whenever the electricity hit her, but her suit was well insulated enough that it didn't hurt. But she had no way to contain him. Pure energy— what could she do with that? How long before he realized his attacks were having no effect on her and he moved on to Kate or Peter?

"Carter, I need help. Remind me of that time the Avengers fought Arthur Parks."

" _Right now? Laynie_ —"

"Please just do it!"

There was a crackle on the comm, and Bruce's voice came out of it the next time. "Hulk clapped and broke the sound barrier. It broke up the unstable photons making up his form. What are you thinking?"

"If Kate could get an arrow that emits a high frequency, would that stun him or what?"

" _That's a great idea! Except I don't have any of those_ ," Kate deadpanned the last part,

Laynie dodged another bolt of energy and tried to hit Electro with her repulsors. He stumbled back a step, then fired again with more power than before. "Okay, don't do that again," she mumbled to herself. Wait! Wait a second! I can overload him if I use all three repulsors at once, can't I?"

"It's worth a shot," Bruce said. She could imagine him scratching his head and pushing up his glasses as he thought. "But if it doesn't work he'll just be more powerful."

"Right."

Before she could talk herself out of doing it, Laynie fired the unibeam along with each of the ones in her shouted and his blue glow intensified until Laynie let off, and he was left looking even more juiced-up than before.

" _Armor power depleted to forty percent_ ," JARVIS announced.

"Crap," she mumbled.

He fired a bolt of electricity at her and hit her square in the chest. She flew ten feet backward, stopped only by a car.

Only ten feet away, Peter ducked a sand mace from Sandman and grabbed one of Ock's tentacles with his webs, pulling himself up along with it. When Ock brought the tentacle up to fling him off, he took the opportunity to plant a kick in his face.

He stumbled back on his metal tentacles, tripping over a car and crashing back.

Using his momentum as he fell, Peter grabbed him with two webs and swung him around twice before letting him fly.

Doctor Octopus flew through Sandman, scattering him, and into Electro. His metal tentacles collided with the other's supercharged body, creating a hum of electricity and a bright flash. Doctor Octopus was taken out of the game, and Electro was drained of his additional energy.

At the same time, the flash of light shone through Mysterio's false selves and helped Kate discern which one to take down.

They regrouped at the car Laynie was pulling herself out of, Peter rubbing his shoulder where he'd hit the ground. Kate helped haul Laynie out of the car.

" _You're doing really good guys_ ," Carter said. " _Four down, two to go! Noh-Varr is headed back your way._ "

"Wait." Laynie counted on her fingers, looking at the villains surrounding her. "Oh, Sandman. Where is he?"

Peter shushed her. "He was scattered when I slingshotted Doc Ock through his body. It'll take a minute for him to pull himself together."

"Do you have any brilliant ideas here?" Kate asked. "Both Electro and Sandman are practically impossible to contain."

Peter rubbed his masked chin. "I don't know. I've only ever succeeded in getting Electro to run away, never captured. If you can get him in water, his powers are—"

"Speed it up Peter, they're getting up," Laynie said anxiously.

"Douse him. However you can. And as for Sandman... I've only ever seen SHIELD contain him in an hourglass that was constantly moving. It kept him from taking a solid form."

"Right. We...don't have anything like that."

As Electro rose to his feet, Laynie grabbed Peter and shoved him behind her. "You and Kate keep planning. I'm going to keep him busy."

"Laynie! Your suit looks like crap, what are you going to do when it can't take this anymore?"

She examined the schematics of her armor's integrity, then looked over the gashes in the blue and silver metal. "Get electrocuted. Keep planning. I'll be listening."

Peter groaned, but he let her go.

" _It's for the best,_ " Bruce said over the comm. " _You and Kate are much more vulnerable than she is._ "

Noh-Varr jogged up to them, pulling his escaped hairs back into his bun. "Goblin got away, but he won't be coming back around for a while."

"Electro and Sandman are the last men standing," Kate said, brushing some rubble off the taller man's shoulder.

" _Sand doesn't conduct electricity_ ," Carter mused over the comm. " _There's got to be a way for these two to cancel each other out._ "

"That's what I was thinking," Peter agreed. He leaned heavily into the ruined car, rubbing his head.

A smile spread over Kate's face. "Okay, here's the plan."

When Laynie looked behind her, her team was gone. In fact, they had disappeared from her scanner altogether. But she was too preoccupied to worry about them, with both Sandman and Electro attacking at the same time. Carter was silent, but JARVIS kept her in the loop on what the attacks were doing to her armor.

After having taken a hit with Sandman's spiked mace, the armor on her left arm was crushed. The mechanics in it were practically ruined, making it hard to move the arm at all. She just hoped Electro wouldn't see the exposed skin there.

"Hey guys! Some team work would be great right about now!"

" _Fall back Laynie, we're coming_!"

Laynie fired one last blast of her repulser beams at Sandman, then rocketed into the air. "I hope you guys have a plan."

Peter came down on Electro, wearing polka dotted rubber wellies and giant rubber dish gloves. There was a plastic sheet of some kind duct taped to his arm. Electro crumbled under Peter's weight and they both rolled up into fighting positions, Peter using his plastic as a shield.

Kate and Noh-Varr charged Sandman, still a little scattered and disoriented, from the other side. With a _vacuum cleaner_. As Kate sucked sand and other debris into the vacuum, Noh-Varr monitored it emptying into a clear plastic drum.

"Okay, I'm not seeing a plan here," Laynie said. The stabilizing jet in her left hand sputtered, so she took to a nearby roof to watch.

Kate and Noh-Varr picked up as much of Sandman as they could get, then Kate emptied a bottle of water into the container. While Sandman struggled to form in the smaller space, Noh-Varr knocked the drum on its side and rolled it every thirty seconds or so.

Peter shouted when Electro clamped a hand on his arm, sending a shock of electricity through him. He bashed Electro in the head with his 'shield' and he hit the ground. Looking around and seeing his felled teammates, Electro must have decided the battle wasn't worth it anymore. He made a break for the power lines, and was gone just like that.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter grimaced, sucking a breath in through his teeth as Bruce finished stitching up a particularly large gash on his arm.

Laynie struck again at the left arm of her armor with a screwdriver, trying desperately to get it off. It had been mangled beyond the point of easy removal, and she couldn't find the failsafe switch to release it.

In the background, JARVIS had a few different screens up, each playing different news footage of the battle and the police taking in what of the group that had been able to contain.

"Y'know, that wasn't a total disaster," Noh-Varr mused.

"You chased Goblin most of the time," Kate said, unstringing her bow. "I don't think you really get to talk."

"Peter took the brunt of the beating," Bruce sighed, looking through his mass of brown hair for any other injuries. "I don't think you have a concussion, but I want you to spend the night here just to be sure."

"That'll be easier to explain to Aunt May than the Frankenstein's Monster patch job on the arm," he sighed.

Laynie sighed too, giving up on removing the armor. "Bruce, can I get a hand?"

Kate and Carter tried not to snicker at her accidental joke.

Bruce examined the arm for a moment, then took the screwdriver from Laynie. He carefully pried a piece of metal away from the inner elbow of the arm, then used the tip of it to pull a tiny metal wire—the failsafe switch.

The arm popped open and Laynie gasped, pulling it out and close to her chest. "Thanks. I'm going to go change."

Bruce grabbed her arm as she tried to breeze past, straightening it out and exposing the cluster of tiny metal splinters and abrasions. "Not so fast."

"Come on Bruce, I was gonna do it myself." She tried to pull her arm back.

"Sit down."

She pouted, sitting back in the chair and letting Bruce take care of her arm.

"Really, I'm impressed," he said quietly as he worked.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, you managed to turn the suit into a walking piece of scrap metal in less than forty minutes."

She went back to pouting.

Carter left her desk and sat beside Peter on the couch. His head was laying back over the couch, and his body was stiffly, carefully draped over it.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just need to sleep for a few thousand years."

Carter chuckled.

He grinned, then shifted to look at her. "I'll miss you this summer."

She felt a flutter in her chest that surprised her. "I'll miss you too. It's a shame the whole 'Young Avengers' thing didn't work out."

"I think we worked out pretty well. There was minimal collateral damage and—"

She laughed. "No Peter, I mean with the Avengers. They'll never let us do this again."

"Oh. Hopefully you're wrong. It's nice not to be alone out there."

"Peter Parker, always the optimist."

" _Doctor Banner, there is a call for you._ "

Bruce groaned, sitting up and away from Laynie's banged up arm. "Might as well patch them through."

Bruce and the five teens listened as Tony thoroughly cussed out him, his mother, the universe, and the fact that he'd ever made Laynie a suit. When he finished, breathing heavier than normal, there was a long pause.

"So I'm on speaker phone, right?" There was a sigh. "Mrs. Parker would have a heart attack," he mumbled.

"Can we skip the part where Captain Righteousness gives us a lecture and go straight to getting punished?" Laynie asked.

"I can hear you, you know?" Steve piped up. "You were explicitly told that Young Avengers was to be dropped."

"Yes, and we explicitly ignored you." Carter replied.

"Carter!" Bruce admonished her.

"Sorry Bruce," she muttered.

"What were you thinking?" Steve asked. "I know all five of you are there, so one of you had better answer me."

"Peter needed help," Laynie said. "Watch the footage from before we got there. Ask yourself what you would have done."

There was silence on the other end.

"Wow, you left Steve speechless, that's an accomplishment." Carter said jokingly.

"Any of you could have been killed," he said. "Are you aware of that?"

They all spoke a single "Yes" at the same time.

There was another long silence. "We'll be home in the morning. You all rest."

* * *

"I am ashamed of you all. You're lucky one of you weren't killed! Kate, you swore never to operate outside of Barton's authority. Peter, you swore you would keep our girls out of your Spider-Man business. Noh-Varr," Steve paused, putting his hands on his hips. "I could hurl you back into space right now and not regret it at all."

The five culprits were lined up on the couch as Steve paced the room, gesturing wildly and ranting freely.

"What are we going to have to do to get this silly Young Avengers notion out of your heads?"

None of them answered.

He stopped in front of the couch and looked pointedly to Laynie and Carter. "Do we need to cut you off from Peter?"

Laynie jumped out of her seat and stood toe-to-toe with Steve. "Don't you dare! Why don't you just train us? We were ready! We saved lives, Steve! Where were you guys?"

"You're out of line!" Steve bellowed.

"I'm not a soldier!" she shouted back. "I'm not your daughter, either. If you would just give us a chance—"

"Young Avengers will _never_ happen!" He took a step back. "That's the final answer."  
Tony stood from where he had sat with Bruce and Clint, watching the spectacle. "Alright, if you're done here, Cap?"

He gave a single nod, still staring Laynie down. She never flinched away. Tony grabbed her arm and fairly dragged her to her room.

Laynie stood in front of her bed, bracing for a fight. "I'm not sorry about anything I did," she said firmly. "I don't regret it."

Tony pushed her toward the center of the room and walked a circle around her. He examined the bruise on her cheek, the bandages on her arm. "You could have been killed," he said evenly.

Laynie sat on her bed, eyeballing her dad. "We've been over this."

"No, Laynie, I don't think you get it. You could have _died_. Dead. Gone forever. I would have had to bury you in the ground at seventeen. Do you really think that's decent?" He grabbed the bandaged arm, shaking it. "Do you really not regret this?"

She yanked her arm away. "You're hurting me."

He turned his back on her, hands on top of his head. "Does your own life really not matter to you?"

"My own life over all of the ones we saved? Would you keep me here my whole life if it meant hundreds of others had to die?"

He spun around and shouted, "Yes! I love you too much to let you do this to yourself!"

She frowned. "You don't love me enough to stop being Iron Man. You think I don't worry about you all the time when you're traipsing all over the world?"

"That's not what this is about."

"You don't love me enough to call every now and again, let me know before you go looking for Loki's _precious_ staff?"

"Laynie that is enough!"

"You don't love me enough to pick up the phone and call Pepper!" she cried.

"That is not about _you_ , Laynie! Pepper left and I don't know if she'll ever come back. All _I_ did was postpone the wedding!"

"That's not all that happened. I was there! I saw you fighting! Your company is going bankrupt trying to support SHIELD, isn't it? You put the Avengers and SHIELD above her, you're the one that drove her away, you're the one that made her leave!"

Tony stopped, breathing heavily, staring blankly at her. He left Laynie's room, closing the door behind himself, and cut through the living room to the elevators. Everyone stared as he walked by, having been able to clearly hear the last half of that argument.


	6. Chapter 6

Laynie closed the news article and scoffed as she handed the phone back to Peter. "I don't care how many millions my dad has poured into it, SHIELD will never be the same. Nobody will ever trust them again."

Peter pocketed his phone and picked at his meal as he spoke. "Not according to eighty percent of news outlets."

"Then who's going to lead it? Maria is too high profile; she couldn't get away with it with things the way they are now. She's been in and out of Avengers Tower more often than my dad, these days."

"Come on Laynie," he said. "Have a little hope, would you? Don't be so angry at SHIELD."

"The job got my mom killed, Wade is missing because of them, and oh, yeah, they harbored Hydra for who knows how long."

"And Natasha's missing," Carter added.

Peter sighed. "Okay, you guys aren't happy with SHIELD. I get it. But I promise we'll find Wade. I know he's out there somewhere, and I'm sure he has a good reason for not coming back."

"Right," Laynie grunted. There was an uncomfortable silence at the table. Laynie slid out of the booth and walked outside, mumbling about clearing her head. That left only Peter and Carter in the diner.

"Is she okay?" Peter asked. "She's been... off."

"It's been a rough couple of months for her, she's been fighting with Tony a lot," Carter sighed. "And she misses Pepper and Wade."

Peter nodded in understanding, "Hopefully it'll get better soon."

"Yeah, hopefully." Carter repeated.

"How have you been doing with this whole thing?"

Carter shrugged. "Better than Laynie. Everything just happened so fast, with Hydra and SHIELD and everything." She huffed, "I just want for everything to go right for once. But, I suppose that's too much to ask for when you live with the Avengers."

Laynie sulked back into the diner, looking a little less tense. She slouched into the seat beside Carter and gave them a weak smile. "Sorry guys."

"It's okay." Peter checked his watch. "I guess I should get going. Aunt May wants me home tonight." He reached for his wallet, but Laynie slapped a fifty on the table before he could get to it.

"Don't worry about it. Tell Aunt May we said hi, okay?"

He smiled. "Sure thing. Call me sometime, you guys!"

Laynie and Carter loitered silently at the table for a few more minutes before shouldering their bags and walking home. The tower, per the norm, was standing silent and empty. They went straight to their apartment with every intention of playing video games for the rest of the day.

Laynie tossed her bag on the couch and went to the kitchen for a drink, while Carter went to set up the game system.

"Laynie!" she shouted.

Laynie ran into the living room, ready for anything, but there didn't appear to be any imminent danger. She followed Carter's gaze to the glass coffee table, and suddenly understood. She gasped.

"Did you...?"

Laynie shook her head and picked up one of the two disposable cameras on the table. "I can't believe this."

Carter picked up the other. "Do you think we should be worried about this?" She asked nervously.

Laynie didn't know what to say. "Coulson was the only person in the world that this would have meant something to. Except maybe our parents."

"But Coulson is dead," Carter said definitely. "We went to his funeral."

"I know," she said. "This doesn't make any sense at all!"

Laynie sat on the couch, turning the camera in her hands. "Yeah, I mean, except the part where we look crazy and nobody has the time to look into it anyway. JARVIS, has anyone been here while we were gone?"

"Master Stark has come and gone since you left, Miss Stark."

"That's not possible. He didn't know about this. Bring up the security feed."

Laynie moved to the desk at the far side of the room, where her laptop was. She flipped it open, and the girls watched as the feed monitoring their apartment skipped two minutes. One second, the table was empty. Then it was black for two minutes, and when the feed came back, the cameras had materialized out of thin air.

"Go over all of the security feeds," Laynie told JARVIS. "Find any other anomalies and report them to me. Keep this secret, okay?"

" _I will do my best, Miss Stark_."

Laynie leaned back in her chair and looked to Carter. "What do we do?"

"Well, I don't think Tony and Bruce will like us keeping this from them... I mean somebody tampered with the cameras and got in and out of our apartment without even JARVIS knowing." Carter sighed, looking down at the camera. "When I saw the cameras, I almost thought I'd find Coulson hanging around here somewhere."

"I was really hoping it was him." They were silent for a moment, watching the video loop. "What if Coulson isn't dead?"

"What?"

"It's been done before. An operative gets too close, or he needs to appear to be dead to catch a bad guy. What if Coulson is alive, and this is his way of telling us? He's trusting us with something big."

Carter groaned. "Why can't he just send us a letter or something? Why does he have to be so mysterious?" She crossed her arms across her chest. "So, what are we going to do now?"

Laynie let out a huff. "I think we should wait, not tell anyone. If it's him, I don't want to mess this up."

"I suppose you're right." Carter nodded in agreement.

She smiled and picked up one of the cameras. "Smile," she said, pointing the camera at Laynie and quickly snapping a picture.

"Carter," Laynie groaned.

"What?" Carter grinned, "Might as well get some use out of them right?"

Laynie smiled for a second, and Carter snapped another picture. All of a sudden, her face fell.

"Laynie? What is it?"

"The film." She picked up her camera told JARVIS to black out the windows and dim the lights. She pulled the film out of the camera and held it up to a dimmed light, and sure enough, the first two frames were filled. She couldn't make out great detail, but she knew who had taken them.

She turned to Carter with a grin. "He left us a message."

Carter smiled back, "Well, what are we waiting for? We need to go get that film developed."

* * *

The next day, the girls were rushing into tower with a white package. After a trip to the nearest drug store, their film was developed and they were eager to see the message left for them. It was really starting to feel real. However, they knew it was a delicate matter. It had to be opened in private.

As they rushed through the lobby of the tower, they nearly ran smack into Peter.

"Hey! I was waiting for you guys. New guy receptionist wouldn't let me up, and neither of you were answering your phones."

They glanced between each other. Laynie took the package from Carter and hugged it to her chest.

"Peter, we've actually got something important to do," Carter explained. "We'll call you later."

"Wait! What's going on with you guys?"

"Nothing. We just have— uh, a meeting. Later," Laynie said lamely. She and Carter jumped on the elevator, leaving Peter confused in the lobby.

In their apartment, they sat on the floor in front of the coffee table where they'd found the cameras in the first place.

Laynie opened her mouth to say something, looking at the envelope, then decided against it. She gave the envelope to Carter.

Carter took a deep breath before tearing the envelope open and pulling out the newly developed photos.

She laid them out on the coffee table in front of them. They ignored the picture Carter had taken and instead focused on the other one.

It was a picture of a piece of paper with a time and an address on it.

Carter looked up at Laynie curiously, "I guess he wants us to meet him somewhere?"

"Who else could it be?" Carter questioned.

Laynie bit her lip. "I don't know. I just... I don't want to get us in a bad situation. In four hours. Are you prepared to meet someone we _think_ is Coulson in a shady warehouse in four hours?"

Carter shrugged, "I suppose I'm as prepared as I'll ever be."

Laynie laughed a little. "We're going to get in so much trouble. Let's get going, it'll take us a while to get there and I want to set up a perimeter first. I want to know the place... Just in case."

The warehouse was, indeed, as sketchy as they'd imagined. The metal sheeting was rusted, almost all the way through in some places, and the floor was cluttered with old beer bottles and such. The girls crunched through broken glass and debris to the center of the warehouse, and Laynie threw down her backpack. The school supplies had been exchanged for weaponry. Two collapsible bo staffs, and a few high-tech weapons thrifted from Tony and Bruce's lab. Laynie had a vague idea of what each of them did, but she was hoping she wouldn't have to use them.

"Geez, Laynie. You're as bad as Clint."

She flashed her friend a toothy grin. "No reason we shouldn't be prepared. I should have thought to bring a bow though." The last part she said more to herself.

Laynie and Carter were silent as the former tucked a collapsible bo staff in the latter's pants pocket and concealed it with her shirt. Laynie tied her jacket around her midsection and held the staff as she waited near the door. If it wasn't Coulson that walked through it, the plan was for Laynie to aim for the kneecaps, and for Carter to first call for help, then get out of dodge, so Laynie announced.

"I don't want you to get hurt," she said. "Besides, I'm already in trouble with my dad, you can claim I talked you into it."

Carter shrugged. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

The two girls waited around for a bit, growing more anxious as time passed. Two minutes before the meeting time, they heard a car.

"That must be... Whoever we're meeting," Laynie said quietly. She hesitated to say it was really Coulson.

Carter stood up and they both watched the door expectantly. Laynie held her breath as footsteps approached. Soft, but quick. As she listened, her heart sped up in her chest. There was more than one person.

Coulson came around the corner first, wearing a suit and sunglasses. He was followed by a shorter woman, whose black hair complimented the stormy look on her face. She wore the SHIELD emblem on her arm proudly, as if the organization hadn't been dismantled and shamed only months beforehand.

The girls could only gape for a moment. Coulson, in the flesh, looked every bit as anxious as they felt. And older. It had been nearly four years since the last time they'd seen him, and the world had taken its toll. But he appeared to be alive, and that was enough.

"Girls," he finally choked out. "It's been a while."

Laynie's staff clattered to the ground, and before she could doubt herself or him, ran right for him. She crashed into him with tears in her eyes and hugged him as tightly as she could.

Carter was quick to join in on the hug, almost knocking both Coulson and Laynie to the ground.

Coulson laughed and pulled them closer. "It's good to see you too."

Laynie pushed him away suddenly and swiped a tear off her cheek. "What happened Coulson? Have you been alive this whole time?"

"Laynie, before you get upset, let me explain."

"Explain? Were you alive when my mom died? Were you alive when I was in foster care?"

Coulson didn't say anything in response.

Laynie wiped another tear away. "I missed you so much. I— I went to your funeral. We both did."

"I know," he said softly. "Laynie, I did die. It's hard to explain, but Fury brought me back at a big cost. I couldn't tell any of you until now."

She sniffled. "It was for a good reason?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She sighed, then stepped back into his arms. "I can't believe you're here."

Carter pulled away and took a deep breath. "So, what's this all about? Why did you want us to meet you here?"

Coulson straightened his jacket and blinked a few times, pretending he hadn't teared up. He half-turned and took a tablet from the agent behind him. He held it in front of them and it began playing footage from the fight with the "sinister six", or so Peter had dubbed them.

"You want to explain?"

They both groaned.

"Not this again! We've already gotten our punishments and lectures, I promise," Laynie sighed.

"You assembled a team of underaged heroes and took down a supervillain team of six in less than forty minutes. You left six thousand dollars worth of damage in your wake, not to mention what Mr. Stark must have paid to repair that armor." Coulson was silent for a moment, watching them absorb the information. "And all of you left the scene without need for immediate medical attention."

"We know," Carter sighed. "We won't do it again."

"Actually," Coulson smiled and handed the tablet back to the silent agent behind him. "That's exactly what I want you to do."

Their jaws nearly hit their chests.

"You worked together brilliantly, and SHIELD needs young faces like you. Someone that didn't start out with us, someone they trust. We can't lay claim to the Avengers anymore, since Maria's been working with Stark. SHIELD needs a new champion. And the media loved you guys."

"Wait," Laynie said, laughing. "SHIELD fell. It doesn't exist."

"Oh, it does. We lay low, but we're doing our job. Who do you think has been snuffing out Hydra?" His smile widened just a little. "I'm director now."

Their jaws dropped all over again.

Laynie held up her hands. "Okay. Back it up, Coulson. You, director of SHIELD, want us to directly disobey our parents and what, be the new Avengers?"

He shrugged. "Technically I was in charge of you two before they were."

Carter snorted. "Somehow I don't think Bruce and Tony will really care about your alpha parent status, Coulson."

He gave them a mischievous smile. "We'll have to see, I guess. If you'll follow me, I can give you the mission specs."

"Wait," Laynie said. "Coulson, why are you so eager to do this? Tony's not speaking to me right now because of what I did."

He paused in the doorway of the warehouse. "I have faith in your ability to get the job done. You two are too much like your parents not to."

Carter and Laynie ran after Coulson when he disappeared from the doorway, mystery agent in tow.

"Come on Peter, you too."

Both girls turned as Peter jumped down from the roof of the warehouse, cheeks flushing pink.

"Were you following us?" Laynie asked incredulously.

"Well... you guys were just acting strange, then you came out of the tower with a duffle bag... I just wanted to make sure you'd be safe."

Carter rolled her eyes ."You could've just asked, you know?"

"You would've actually told me what you were doing?" Peter asked suspiciously.

"No, but we would of come up with a pretty believable lie." Carter grinned.

Peter sighed exasperatedly as he followed the two girls.

Coulson ushered the three teens into a waiting car. The other agent had already hopped into the driver's seat.

"So..." Carter started, "You gonna introduce us to your friend, Coulson?"

"Oh, girls, Peter, meet Agent Melinda May. She's a good friend of mine."

Carter nodded. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Agent May."

The woman simply nodded, acknowledging the greeting and nothing more.

The girls pressed their face to the window as the car lurched to a stop in front of a black plane.

"It's huge." Peter said, awe-stricken.

"This is the bus." Coulson said, leading them on board. "My team lived on it for a while."

"That must have been fun," Carter said distractedly. She was busy taking in the sights to see onboard.

After a short trip through a small cargo hold and up a spiral staircase, they arrived in what looked like a common area of the plane. There was a bar, a kitchenette, and a glass-paneled room with a holotable in the center, and a large screen on one wall.

Coulson cleared his throat, calling their attention from the sights and back to the mission at hand. "This is Agent Antoine Triplett. Trip, this is Carter Beckett, Laynie Stark, and Peter Parker. Fury considered Mr. Parker here an honorary agent as Spider-Man. Big fan, by the way."

Peter ducked his head as his cheeks turned pink.

"Hold up," Trip said. "These little girls are the operatives we're here to pick up?"

"I'm not a girl," Peter said weakly, holding up a hand. Trip raised his eyebrows, as if he was skeptical of the fact.

"Agent Triplett," Coulson smiled. "These are the adopted daughters of Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. Laynie was trained by Romanoff and Rogers themselves. I worked closely with their late parents, level seven field agents."

He nodded, and his glance held a bit of respect the next time around. "Alright. I trust you, boss."

Coulson stepped into the small briefing room and waved a hand to turn on the table's display. The screen on the wall came to life a second later, and they were looking at a blurry photo of a black clad figure.

"Rigby Brandt, AKA Black Marrow. Brandt was a SHIELD agent, level six, in charge of training unstable or difficult gifteds. Turns out he was Hydra, of course, and he went rogue. Now he's doing their dirty work, and he's good."

Carter crossed her arms as she read information in Brandt's digital case file on the table. "And what do you want us to do about it?"

"He's irritating me. I want you to bring him in."

Laynie sighed. "Okay, Coulson, I don't know about this. I don't have my suit, and I don't know if my team is capable of this even when I _do_ have it."

"You'll have your suit, and we'll have an extraction plan ready. I understand your intentions were to use Noh-Varr's alien ship for transportation if you ever got the team off the ground, but we're going to escort you to this one."

"So it's a test," Peter said. He looked between the agents in the room. "You could take this guy out yourselves, couldn't you?"

Coulson made eye contact with him, wearing that half-smile that gave away nothing. "Yes Peter, this is a test run."

Coulson leaned on the table and looked between Laynie and Carter. "I can't give you any more details until you say yes."

Laynie gave her friends a look, and they were already looking to her. She gave Coulson a single nod. "Alright, give us the whole story, Director."


	7. Chapter 7

The mission parameters were simple. SHIELD had intercepted a message to Brandt, so they knew what his target was. Or, more specifically, _who_. A gifted living in Chicago, formerly under SHIELD protection. They didn't get much information about the target, since they didn't really need it. but they knew she was young.

The mission was to get to that girl before he did, and neutralize Black Marrow.

"We want him alive for interrogation," Coulson said. "But if he threatens the life of the asset or one of your team members, you have authorization to use lethal force."

Laynie had nodded like it was no big deal, but her heart was in her throat. Logically, this would have happened sooner or later, and she knew that. She had just expected it to be a lot later. It was a little comforting that Peter looked as apprehensive as she felt.

Laynie leaned against the table and looked between Coulson and Agent Triplett. "How are we going to get my suit?"

Coulson smiled. "Fury had a JARVIS override code. Stark doesn't know it exists, at least not yet, so all you have to do is walk in and take the suit. We'll have our tech support input the code remotely. You can use this to crack the code on the vault." He put a small device on the table.

"Carter can do it," she said firmly.

Coulson gave the girl a glance.

"You said this was a test, right? Well she's our tech support."

He nodded. "Alright, good point. Carter, will you want backup? If Laynie gets caught trying to get the suit, it could ruin this whole thing."

Carter thought for a moment, looking between Laynie and Coulson. She shook her head. "No, I can do it."

Coulson nodded. "Then we'll leave it to you."

"Alright, here's how it's gonna go down. Peter, head home and suit up. Tell your Aunt you'll be spending the evening with the girls. Laynie, you go home and get your suit. If anyone asks where Carter is, she's at Peter's, and you're going to meet them there. Carter, you'll stay with us. Our resident techie Agent Skye will be helping you set up. Agent May is on her way to get Kate and Noh-Varr. Marrow will be making his move tonight, you only have one shot at this. Got it?"

The three gave nods and mumbled their okays, and the team parted ways.

Laynie was so distracted on the subway that she almost missed her stop. She had a million questions and concerns. On a scale of one to the Hulk, how angry would Tony be if he knew about this? How was Coulson alive? Why had he come out of hiding just to help them form the team? How low on men was he _really_?

Coulson had stuck an earpiece in her ear before she left. As she approached the sidewalk, she touched it and said quietly, "Carter, I'm about to go in."

She heard a crackle on the other end, then an "Okay."

"Don't put the code in just yet, I want to change first."

Laynie took the elevator up to her apartment and quickly changed into a pair of black leggings and a black tank top. She took the soft-topped, thick soled shoes Tony had made to be worn inside the suit, and pulled a hoodie over all of it, in case she ran into someone on the way to the armory.

She tore a piece of paper off a notepad and scribbled down a note, explaining they were at Peter's, and put it on the door before heading back into the elevator.

"Okay Carter, I'm in position."

"Inputting the code right now," she said.

As Laynie stepped off the elevator, she watched the manual access panel for JARVIS power down. "Sorry buddy," she mumbled. She stepped over to the cydrillical glass case that held her suit, hesitating in front of it.

Laynie wanted this. Badly. But she wanted to be an orphan again even less. How far could she push Tony before he began pushing back?

She heaved a sigh, then took out the small round chip Coulson had given her. She pressed it on the screen, and it loaded for a moment before the case opened. She removed the device, putting it back in her pocket, and shed her hoodie. Before she had time for more second thoughts, she stepped into the suit and took off from the launch pad.

"Are we good?" she asked Carter.

"Yep. The systems are back online and the armor is still showing up as where it's supposed to in the tower. As long as you don't turn on the JARVIS in your HUD, you'll be good."

"I kind of need it, for aiming purposes. And flight." Even as she spoke, she readjusted her course and nearly spun herself into a barrel roll. "I'm not incredibly practiced at this, you know."

There was a little bit of silence on the other end. "Skye says she can rig it so JARVIS's systems are offline, but everything else is functioning."

"How long will it take? We've only got a few hours to get to Chicago."

"She says she can have it done by the time we touch down there."

"Good deal. Link me up with the others once they're there, alright?"

"Sure thing."

Carter found that she couldn't let Coulson out of her sight. She sat in the common area of the plane with her laptop and headset, ready to do her job when the bus landed. Coulson say behind her and slightly to the left, and she glanced over her shoulder every five seconds to make sure he was still there. It was unreal.

"Carter, if you have a question, you can ask it."

She glanced at Kate, Noh-Varr, and Peter, sitting against the wall. Each of them were preoccupied, but she didn't want them to hear the question.

She slid out of her seat and into the one beside him.

"You're alive."

"Yes?"

"But… My parents aren't."

His face fell. "No, Carter. I'm sorry. Fury pulled some unethical strings to literally raise me from the dead. Your parents are gone."

She nodded, looking down at her lap. "Okay."

"Is that it?"

She nodded again, then darted back to her seat.

Laynie emerged from the briefing room with Skye in tow. Each of them were holding a tablet, poking at the screen and jabbering about hacker things that she didn't understand.

Trip came out of the cockpit at the same time. "May says we touch down in five. Get ready."

Carter sat up straighter and pulled her headset on. Peter pulled his mask on, and his sweatshirt off. Kate stood and swung her quiver over her shoulders, and Noh-Varr made for the bay.

The bus was landing a twenty minute fly away from the asset's home. Noh-Varr was to pilot a Quinjet full of his team members, sans Laynie, to the mission site. Trip, May and Skye were staying on the bus as backup with Carter, and Coulson was riding with the team to personally supervise them.

Laynie came to stand by Carter's little set up, and leaned in close. "Are you sure you're in for this?"

"Yeah. You?"

She hesitated. "I'm in." She smiled at her friend. "You've got our backs, right?"

She smiled back. "Right."

Laynie stepped into her suit, removed her helmet, and followed the rest of her team. Her heart was beating heavily, and her head felt light. Everything inside her said that what she was about to do would get her in more trouble than anything else she'd ever done. Laynie had lived her life as a rule follower, and she knew that this would be the final straw that broke her reputation.

Laynie stepped onto the Quinjet and stood behind Noh-Varr, in the pilot's seat. Coulson sat down and strapped himself in next to Peter and Kate. Coulson gave her a smile and a thumbs up, and all of her anxieties vanished. She could almost feel her mom sitting beside him. Rebecca would have been proud of her, even if Tony wasn't.

Laynie sat in the seat beside Noh-Varr and fastened her helmet on. "Alright, let's move out."

The Quinjet rolled out of the bus, then took off over the city of Chicago.

Noh-Varr flipped on the cloaking, and the jet settled down on top of a building in a seedy part of town.

" _Testing, testing. Can everyone hear me?_ "

The occupants of the jet checked in with Carter individually.

" _Remember, call each other by your codenames. Especially Peter and Kate._ "

"That's important," Laynie agreed. "What should we call you?"

" _Mission control?_ " She laughed. " _I haven't really thought about it._ "

"It's time to get in position," Noh-Varr said.

"Right." Laynie gave Coulson a glance.

"Break a leg," he said. "I'll be here if you need me."

"Okay." She gave him a smile. "Thanks."

Standing on the roof, Laynie realized the team was waiting for her guidance.

"Don't look at me, Spider-Man's been doing this longer."

Peter laughed and shook his head. "But I'm not the leader type."

She sighed. "Okay, fine. Uhh, Kate— Hawkeye, you stay up here. Be our eyes. Marvel Boy, you wait in the yard. Be discreet. You're the last line of defense. Spidey, you hang with me. Sound good?"

Each of them nodded.

The asset's house was small and squat, with a few lights on. The sun had long set, so it was easier to go unnoticed by avoiding the yellow light of the street lamps. Noh-Varr jumped the short fence to stick close, patrolling the perimeter as discreetly as possible. Laynie jetted herself to sit on one of the street lamps, and Peter sat on the roof.

" _Now we wait,_ " Kate sighed over the comms. " _Stakeouts are boring_."

" _I have a feeling we won't be waiting long,_ " Peter said.

They all knew that Peter's "feeling" was going to be accurate, and readied themselves. And as expected, a black-clad figure appeared on the street not long afterward.

" _Iron Defender, he's on your three o'clock,_ " Kate hissed.

"I see him. Should I engage?"

" _No. Spidey's got a better angle._ "

"Roger that. Spidey, you copy?"

" _He's armed heavily. Grenades, flash bombs, two pistols and a rifle. Unidentified tech on his belt, plus pouches full of stuff._ "

"We have to engage anyway," Laynie said. "Come on, don't back down now."

" _I'm not, just, he's got a clear shot through the windows._ "

She huffed. "I'm going to take him from the front and disarm him as much as I can. Then I need you to get him away from the house. Copy?"

" _Yeah, I got it._ "

Laynie steeled herself, then jumped down. She landed two feet from Black Marrow, palm and repulsor beam outward.

"Black Marrow, you're under arrest on the authority of SHIELD. Come quietly."

This man didn't wear a mask. He was about as tall as Laynie in her armor, with light skin and a chin covered in stubble.

"SHIELD doesn't control me anymore." He smiled, then lurched forward and grabbed Laynie's wrist. He tried to twist it, but the mechanics in the arm locked up. She smiled, then brought her right hand up and punched him halfway across the street.

She walked toward him, and stripped a gun away before he could get up. She crushed it in her fist, then pulled him to his feet by his tactical vest.

"Last chance to do this the easy way, Brandt."

He drew a pistol from his side and fired a round point blank at Laynie's face. It sparked right off the faceplate, and he thankfully couldn't hear her startled shriek. Her team, however, did.

In her surprise, she released him. He darted away like a snake, and ran straight for the house. Peter intercepted him this time, landing a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.

" _Wrap it up, guys,_ " Coulson said in their ears. " _We don't want to draw attention._ "

"Right." Laynie turned and grabbed Marrow from behind, pulling him away from Peter and launching him across the street again. He fired once, twice, three times, each at Peter. He dodged them, thankfully, but Marrow continued to fire. He laughed the entire time.

Laynie took a step to the side to cover Peter, then fired at the pistol. The barrel melted, and he tossed it aside.

" _Guys! Unidentified hostile entering from the south end of the property! Armed, dressed in red and black. He's got a mask._ "

Laynie signaled for Peter to take Marrow, now that he was out of convenient guns. "Marvel Boy, do you need backup? Marvel-Boy?"

Laynie heard two cries at once, one from Peter, and one from Noh-Varr. Peter was slashed across the waist by Marrow, but she couldn't see Noh-Varr.

"Hawkeye, assist Marvel Boy! Spider-Man is injured."

" _Do you require backup?_ " Coulson asked.

"No! Not yet."

Peter blocked another swipe from Marrow, and ducked a punch. He sprayed webbing at the knife as it swung close to Marrow's torso, and it stuck under his other arm. He planted a kick in his chest, and as he fell over, he sprayed webbing across his body.

Laynie grabbed his shoulder to steady him as he put both his feet back on the ground. The slash across his stomach was bleeding at a rather alarming rate.

"Spidey, you retreat. We can wrap up here."

As Peter made his getaway, Marrow tore free of the webs and jumped to his feet. His knife sparked off Laynie's chestplate, barely denting the metal.

He threw a punch, and she blocked it. She recalibrated her stance to compensate for the weight he was putting into it.

He threw a cross and a jab, not phased when the cross met armor. She threw a hook and a kick.

The kick was a mistake, and she knew it as soon as her foot left the ground. He grabbed her around the ankle and pulled, successfully knocking her off her feet. He pulled again and spun, throwing her down the street. Her body collided with Kate's, and her head hit the interior of the armor.


	8. Chapter 8

Around the other side of the house, Noh-Varr was barely holding his own against the second assailant. His earpiece had been knocked loose by the first super-powered punch delivered to his jaw. His white hair was coming loose of its bun, the pieces around his face were streaked with blood.

His plasma gun was useless in this fight. The assailant had double katanas on his back that he wasn't even _using,_ meaning one of two things to him. Either he didn't want to kill, which was not part of Marrow's MO, or he was having fun with the fight. As he spun and landed another kick in Noh-Varr's ribs, he was starting to think it was the latter.

All he could think of was the face of that young woman. This 'asset' that they were protecting was a human being, and he knew she wouldn't last in Hydra. When he took up his gun and his alias, Noh-Varr had sworn to protect the innocent. This was his chance, and he was missing it.

He hit the ground on his hands and knees, spitting blood into the grass. The man in red and black stood over him and drew one sword, leveling it over his neck.

"Last words?"

His voice took Noh-Varr by surprise. He was younger than he had expected. "Yeah. What do I call you?"

"Deadpool." He pulled the sword over his head, and Noh-Varr rolled away as it swung down.

The wet _thump_ of it hitting the soft earth made him cringe. He jumped to his feet and stayed low, putting his fist in Deadpool's stomach. A punch in the solar plexus, unlike the rest of the hits he had made, phased him. He wheezed softly as the air was taken out of him, and he stumbled back a step. Noh-Varr took the opening to hit a pressure point on his wrist and take the sword, throwing it away where it couldn't be reached.

He reached for the mask, but his hand was knocked aside.

He swung another right hook at Noh-Varr, who was able to block it easily. Still, the force of it knocked him back a step. Deadpool wagged his finger and tucked the edge of his mask back down.

"No touchy the masky, _compadre_."

Kate came barreling around the corner of the house, limping and shouting. Noh-Varr turned and hesitated just the slightest bit, and Deadpool took the opening. He braced his hands on Noh-Varr's shoulders, vaulting over him and grabbing his sword as he sprinted for the house. Kate collided with Noh-Varr from the side as an electrical grenade went off near them. Electricity shot out in all directions like tiny bolts of lightning, scorching and setting fire to patches of grass.

"Thanks Hawkeye." Noh-Varr sat up on his elbow and brushed a small fire off Kate's thigh. "Iron Defender and Spider-Man?"

"Defender took a hit to the head, Spidey retreated after a knife wound."

Kate rolled over and drew an arrow from her quiver. As Deadpool jimmied the back door of the house open, she loosed the string. The arrow went straight through the his calf, and he fell to his knee.

Black Marrow called from the front of the house, and Deadpool ran haltingly back toward the road.

Half a second later, they watched their aircraft take to the sky.

Kate laid back in the grass and groaned. Noh-Varr wiped blood off his lips.

Kate put her finger on the piece in her ear. "Mission failed. Asset is safe for now, Marrow and the second assailant escaped."

" _Iron Defender and Marvel Boy?_ "

"Marvel Boy is with me, minor injuries. Defender took a hit, give us a second to check in on her."

" _Regroup at the Quinjet when you're done,_ " Coulson said.

"Roger that."

Kate stood and swept her hair over her shoulder, then held a hand out. She hoisted Noh-Varr to his feet and grimaced as she looked him over in the half light. His lips were broken and bloody in several places, most notably, and the rest of him was as much of a mess.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, promise."

She took half a step back, then nodded hesitantly. "Pete- Er, Spider-Man had to retreat to the Quinjet. We just need to get Laynie. _Dammit_ , Iron Defender. This is gonna take some getting used to."

Noh-Varr laughed. Kate slugged him. They slipped over the fence and into the street. Kate had managed to drag Laynie to the side, so she wasn't in any immediate danger, but she was still in the road.

"Carter, can you get her faceplate up or something?"

" _Sure, just a second._ "

The armor whirred as it opened on Laynie's face. There was a gash on her temple that was still bleeding, but that was all they could tell from the small opening.

"Laynie," Kate called, shaking her shoulder. "We need to go now."

Her eyes fluttered a moment, and opened.

"Can you walk?" Noh-Varr questioned.

She nodded and let them help her to her feet. "What happened?"

"The asset is safe. We'll catch you up on the jet."

Laynie wasn't happy to hear the story of what had happened during her brief nap. She asked a few questions about the second assailant, shooed Coulson away when he tried to look at her head, and was silent the entire trip to the bus.

Carter met them in the bay, taking some of Peter's weight on herself and helping him to the lab with Kate on the other side. Coulson exited the jet last, supervising Noh-Varr and Laynie's swaying steps.

It was determined that while Peter had managed to dodge the worst of the knife, he was still going to need five to ten stitches across the worst of it. Laynie needed at least one stitch on her head, and Noh-Varr was going to be a walking pincushion, covered in cuts just bad enough to need a stitch or two.

Carter volunteered to keep an eye on Peter for the duration of the ride back. She sat beside him while everyone else went upstairs. He was stretched out on a cot in the lab, one hand holding a cloth over his stomach to staunch the last of the bleeding. She sat on the floor nearby, reviewing what had gone wrong on the mission.

"You could go upstairs, you know."

Carter looked up from the laptop. Peter's eyes were half open, looking at her, but there was a little smile on his face. She felt a little less worried after hearing him speak. "I'm fine, I'd rather stay with you."

He nodded a little and let his eyes close again. "And this wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I was hurt, would it?" He waited a beat, then continued. "Because I've dealt with this before. And worse."

Carter shrugged, "Just because you've dealt with it before doesn't mean I can't worry about you."

"Right. How long have we been in the air?"

"About thirty minutes."

"Then we have at least thirty minutes to go, then." Peter sat up on his elbow and turned to lean against the wall beside Carter. "I might as well keep you company, right?"

Carter pushed her laptop aside and grabbed his shoulder to steady him. "Stop being an idiot, you're going to make your injuries worse. Lay back down." Carter scolded.  
"Oh, don't be that way."  
She huffed. "I will be whatever way I want to be."

He grinned and bumped her with his shoulder. "Come on, let me have just a little fun for a minute." He stuck his bottom lip out. "Please?"

"No." Carter deadpanned. "And the puppy dog look doesn't work on me, I perfected it. I'm immune to its powers."

He dropped the puppy dog face and shifted a little, still holding the cloth over his stomach. It was starting to soak through with blood. "Fine, I see how it is. I'll just sit here in complete silence then."

And that's how it went on, for about five minutes. Carter gave him glares out of the corner of her eye, he continued to try not to nod off beside her.

"Oh would you just lay down already?"

His head snapped up. "What? Uh, no. I'm keeping you company."

She pushed her laptop to the side and stood up, grabbing him by the shoulders and shifting him back into the cot. He was a little heavier than she expected. "Just lay down."

He laid still as Carter sat beside the cot. "Go upstairs."

"Why should I?"

"Because you know I'm okay, and everyone will miss you." He paused again. "Laynie's bummed. We messed up."

Carter sighed, "Fine," She stood up and started for the stairs, "don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

He grinned. "No promises."

Carter rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop smiling as she went up the stairs.

Laynie grabbed Carter's hands as she sat beside her, flipping them palms up and exposing the blood smears. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, I was just helping Peter." She wiped the thin smear of red off on her jeans. Laynie's own fingers were red, from dabbing blood off her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She heaved a sigh. "Peter?"

"He's fine, just tired I think."

"Understandably."

There was a heavy silence between the two of them. Laynie was sitting against the far wall, away from everyone else. Noh-Varr and Kate were sitting where Carter had sat during the mission at the little table in the center of the room, and Trip was sitting with Skye on the couch not far from them.

"Peter said you guys messed up."

Laynie's fist tightened around the cloth in her hand. "Yeah, we did. This was our chance to prove to everyone that we were ready, and we blew it. The asset is in limbo, and we didn't find out anything about Marrow or Deadpool. We hardly laid a hand on either of them."

"You weren't prepared for there to be two of them. And hey, you _found out_ that there's two of them. If Marrow has a partner, this explains everything about how he's been pulling this stuff off."

"But we failed!" Laynie sighed and lowered her voice. "Now Peter and Noh-Varr are hurt, and Tony's going to be crazy angry at me, all for nothing."

"It's going to be okay." Carter said calmly. "Besides I'm sure Coulson will help with Tony."

"Oh, don't even get me started on Coulson. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's alive, but I shouldn't have to _say_ that. It's been four years. In four years, our parents have died, we both lived in foster homes. My dad had a custody battle with my dad. SHIELD has fallen. We've been almost always alone in the last few months. If he had been around, our lives would have been completely different. Think about it, Carter. I know he would have taken us in a heartbeat. So why didn't he?"

Carter opened her mouth to respond, and Laynie stood abruptly.

"I'm gonna go downstairs. Sorry."

The remainder of the flight was tense for everyone, and it was a relief to finally land.

"Uh, where are we?" Carter asked, looking outside the plane. They had landed directly into a hangar, and the doors closed above them.

"I hope you don't mind if I keep it secret," Coulson said as he breezed past. "This is kind of the only base I have right now."

Carter nodded and followed him.

As they exited the plane, a gurney and a few people with it whizzed by. Carter stopped and followed it with her eyes, straight to Peter. He was protesting about the whole thing, but with how pale he was looking, Carter knew she didn't need to intervene on his behalf.

"Laynie, Noh-Varr," Coulson said. "You follow these agents and get patched up. I'll send Agent Triplett to accompany you, and he'll take you to debrief when you're done."

"Uh, Coulson? Where do we go?" Carter asked, gesturing to Kate.

"You can follow your teammates, or Agent Skye can take you to our common area where you can rest."

Carter watched Peter go by, and then looked at Kate.

"It's okay, you go on and catch up to them. I'll be with Skye."

"Thank you," She said, before running off to catch up with her friends.

She fell into step next to Laynie. The agents that had taken Peter were just in front of them, so she was satisfied with being able to keep an eye on him.

Turning to look at Laynie, she asked, "Are you okay?"

Laynie only nodded.

Peter was the first to receive care. His teammates were kept out of the room as a doctor stitched him up, but once they were done, Carter was allowed in. She sat beside the bed quietly and waited to see if he was asleep or not.

His eyes opened slowly, and he smiled when he saw her by the bed. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were stalking me."

"Until you are better, I think I might be."

The smile widened into a grin. "I'm not complaining."

Carter cleared her throat and sat up straighter. "So, I take it you're okay."

"That's what they told me." He looked toward the door, then back to Carter. "Hey, this Coulson guy, you trust him, right?"

"Of course, he's like family."

Peter nodded, then settled back into the bed. "Alright, that's good enough for me."

"Why do you ask?"

"I've only counted thirty five agents so far. You could count double that in the break room of any helicarrier at any given time. I just want to make sure we aren't being tricked or something."

"By Hydra?"

"Yeah. But if you trust him, then I trust him."

* * *

Laynie waited near the door as Noh-Varr was stitched up. He got two on the inside of his lip, one on the highest point of his cheekbone, and another in his hairline. He had countless other bruises and two cracked ribs. Thankfully, he had an extremely high pain tolerance and he healed quickly. Still, looking at him made Laynie's blood boil.

This Deadpool guy had thrown a wrench into the entire mission, and she knew he had to be good if he had beaten Noh-Varr so badly. Something about the name was unsettling to her, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Laynie took the last turn getting stitches, and it wasn't as bad as she'd expected. They looked awful, though. Two of them above her eyebrow and a big bruise surrounding it. Her dad wasn't going to be happy.

Finally, Trip rounded them up and took them to the common area where Kate was. The doctor on call that had stitched them all up insisted Peter not be allowed to walk until his body had caught up with the blood he lost, so Carter pushed him in a wheelchair.

Coulson came and sat down on the couch, motioning for the others to do the same. "Which one of you is in charge of the team?"

They looked between each other, and Kate pointed to Laynie.

Laynie sighed. "It's only sort of in charge. We're a _team_."

"And someone is always in charge anyway," he responded evenly. "Laynie, as the leader of your team, tell me what happened today."

"Sir?"

"In your own words, sum up your mission."

She thought about it for only a moment before responding. "We failed. The mission was a failure."

He nodded. "And what was your mission?"

"To apprehend Black Marrow."

"Wrong. Your mission was to protect the asset. A human being. You probably saved her life."

Laynie was speechless. "But you told us to bring in Black Marrow. Coulson, we had our butts handed to us."

"On a silver platter, yeah. You guys are rough around the edges and you weren't ready to go up against someone so skilled as him. Next time, you'll be ready."

Laynie stood. "Hold up, Coulson. Next time? This was a test, and we failed."

"I don't think you failed. I think your team still has potential, and I still need you. Now, your parents are home and they're about to realize that you aren't really with Peter's aunt. Peter, you'd better stay with the girls for the next few days."

"How do I explain that to my aunt?"

He stood and shrugged, with his hands in his pockets. "They're home alone, they watched a horror movie and heard something go bump in the night. Be creative."

"Sir, can I talk to you for a second?"

Coulson followed Laynie into the hallway.

"I need you to do me a favor. Two, actually."

"I'm listening."

"First, I need you to find someone for me. His name is Wade Wilson, he was a charge of SHIELD. He was in the asylum in New York until SHIELD fell, and now we can't find him."

"You might not like what I find."

Laynie bit down on her lip. "I just need to know what happened. Even if it isn't what I want."

He was quiet for a moment. "And the second favor?"

"Drive us to Avengers Tower, explain what happened to my dad."

He sighed, "I'm very busy-"

Laynie cut him off, "I don't care. It won't matter what I say to him if I go alone. You got us into this, I'm not taking the fall for it."

"Laynie…"

"Come on. You owe me this."

He sighed. "Alright, fine."


	9. Chapter 9

The last time all of the Avengers had been home, they had busted up a party. This time, they were prepared to deal with broken curfew. They were _not_ prepared to deal with what came through the door.

Tony and Bruce were both waiting on the girls' couch. When the front door opened, they each jumped to their feet. It was only Laynie.

"So it turns out you were not at Peter's house," Bruce said. "And neither is Peter."

She sighed and turned in the doorway. "We've been made. Come on in."

Carter came through the door next, with Peter using her as a crutch. They completely ignored the two parents in the center of the living room as she walked him to the nearest chair.

Tony grabbed him at the last second and helped Carter ease him into a chair. "God, is he drunk? What have you three been up to?"

Noh-Varr came next, beaten to a pulp but walking with his head high. Tony and Bruce watched him wordlessly. Kate was next, still walking with a little bit of a limp but otherwise unscathed.

Finally, Coulson came through the door and stood awkwardly beside Laynie.

"Surprise," he said. "Not dead."

Bruce and Tony looked to each of the girls, both just now noticing the stitches on Laynie's forehead.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Bruce said.

"You know, I'm gonna let Coulson handle this one." Laynie shuffled over to where Carter and Peter were.

"Yes, let's let the dead agent explain!" Tony said. "Why don't we just grab an ouija board and ask it, too! What is going on?"

"Calm down, Mr. Stark. There's a logical explanation."

"Is there a medical one too?" Bruce asked. "Because I heard Loki stabbed you through the heart. That's– that's not something you sleep off."

Coulson took a few steps toward the center of the room and gestured toward the couch. "Let's sit down and talk it out."

Bruce, a little stunned, sat down. Tony wasn't about to.

"Are you kidding me! 'Talk it out'? Coulson, you died. I'm going to _stand_ here, and you're going to explain right now." He swiveled and pointed toward Laynie. "And the second he's done with that, you're going to explain what you all were up to."

Coulson sat down on the couch across from Bruce and took his jacket off. "Do you want the long version or the short one?" There was resounding silence in response. "Alright. Fury really didn't want me dead, so he had my blood infused with alien DNA and rewrote my memories so I forgot the whole thing."

"That's it?" Tony asked. "That's the whole story?"

He considered it for a moment. "For now. Check back with me in a few weeks and we'll see."

Tony put his face in his hands.

"I'm not here for that," Coulson said. "I'm here to explain on your daughter's behalf, Tony."

"And why can't she explain for herself?" Tony asked in exasperation.

"Because it was my fault they were out tonight."

"Fine, start talking. Why is my daughter injured?"

"That's going to require a little backstory. Fury appointed me director of SHIELD, and we've been operating in the shadows. After seeing how they handled the Sinister Six a couple weeks ago, I thought maybe they could give me a hand protecting one of our assets."

He blinked rapidly a few times, not believing the words coming out of Coulson's mouth. "You assembled their team."

"Yes. I think they have great potential."

He stood and took a step toward Coulson. "How dare you? How dare you put her in harm's way like that?"

"She made the choice on her own."

"She's a kid! She's too stupid to see that she's going to get hurt. Coulson! You died in this line of work, her mom died! Do you really think it's a good idea to let her fight?"

Coulson stood and held his ground. "I think it's in her blood." He tilted his head. "Have you seen her fight?"

Tony's face was red, and his fists were trembling at his sides. "Get out. Don't ever speak to my daughter again."

Laynie grabbed Tony's arm. "No. Dad, I've known him as long as I can remember."

"He's leaving, Laynie."

"Then I'm going with him."

Coulson put his hand on Laynie's shoulder. "Laynie, stay here. I'll call if I find out anything about your friend."

"She has you looking for Wilson?" Tony pulled Laynie out from between him and Coulson and started pushing him toward the door. "You will not be calling her."

"Dad, stop! Just listen to me!"

Coulson took the last few steps toward the door and held a hand out toward Laynie. "It's okay." He left without another word, closing the door behind him.

Bruce stood as soon as the door was closed, motioning for Carter to follow him. "Let's make a bed for Peter up in my apartment."

She nodded and eagerly followed him, once again Peter's crutch. Noh-Varr and Kate sat awkwardly still, watching Tony.

"Go home," he told them. They, too, wasted no time in leaving.

Tony turned on Laynie, whose face was flushed with anger.

"I can't believe you would go behind my back to do this."

She did nothing but stare.

He closed the distance between them and gently grabbed her chin, tilting her face up to look at the gash on her forehead. "What happened?"

"I threw a kick and he grabbed my ankle, threw me into Kate. I guess my face hit the inside of the suit."

He released her chin. "It'll scar."

"I don't care."

A rift of silence passed. Tony's own face was marred by a cut on his cheek, and a bruise on his temple. Laynie saw him favoring his left side, too. He'd been doing some hard fighting.

"Tell me you won't do this again." Tony put his hands together. "Please, don't do this again."

"Coulson is restarting SHIELD. He's the director. All you've wanted the last few months is to rebuild SHIELD, so you should help him."

"Laynie, don't go down this path."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This is what I want."

Tony nodded, then turned to leave. "We'll talk tomorrow."


	10. Chapter 10

When Bruce asked Carter if she wanted to spend the night in his apartment, she almost cried for joy. She didn't want to go back to her apartment with Laynie and Tony fighting. Besides, Laynie was being touchy about the whole thing.

So Bruce made up two beds in the living room. Peter got the longer couch, to accommodate his height, and Carter got the shorter one to accommodate her lack of it. Peter fell asleep the second his head touched the pillow, needing the rest that was coming to him. But Carter and Bruce stayed up a little later, lounging on his bed.

"Carter, how far away were you when Laynie was fighting?"

She shrugged. "A ten minute fly?"

He let out a sigh of relief. "I don't want to fight with you about this. All I want is for you to be safe."

"I promise you, I don't want anything to do with the punching people part." She paused for a second, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Bruce, if you were in charge of Laynie, would you be fighting her about this?"

Bruce sighed, "I'm not sure, Carter. On one hand, I can understand Tony's concern. But on the other hand, if he didn't want her using the suit, he should have never made it for her. She trained hard with Natasha and Steve for months, I've seen her fight. He at least knows what she's doing."

Carter nodded, "Do you really think he'll keep her from seeing Coulson?"

"I'll talk to him about that later, see if I can change his mind, okay?"

She smiled. "Thanks, Bruce."

He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head. "No problem." He took a look at his watch. "It's getting late, you should get to bed."

"Okay!" She leaned in and kissed his cheek, "Night Bruce, love you!"

* * *

The next morning, when Carter woke up, Peter was staring straight at her.

By the time she had blinked the sleep out of her eyes, he was staring out the window behind her, so she couldn't be sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"How did you sleep?" she asked.

"Good." Peter yawned. "For a really long time. You?"

She stretched and nodded. "Fine. How are you feeling?"

"Not like a zombie anymore." He sat up carefully, and Carter went to sit beside him.

"Have you heard anything?"

He tilted his head and listened. Carter knew that, to some degree, he had heightened hearing, and it sometimes really came in handy.

"Bruce is snoring. That's about it."

She smiled. "He does that."

"I assume you haven't seen Laynie since last night?"

"No, not since we left the room. I hope Tony wasn't too hard on her."

He grimaced. "I have a feeling he was, though. Why is he so against her doing this?"

She shrugged.

There was a long silence.

At the same time as Carter spoke, Peter opened his mouth. "Were you staring at me?" Carter clamped her lips together. "Uh, what were you saying?"

Peter looked at her, then down at his lap. He shook his head and shrugged at the same time. "Nothing. I wasn't saying anything. Uhh- staring? Staring, no. I was just… you were asleep but you were waking up and I was already awake…" He peeked up at Carter to confirm that she was, in fact, looking at him like he was crazy. "You snore a little."

"Well, excuse me." She huffed.

"No, wait, I didn't mean-" He groaned.

They sat in silence for a few minutes with Peter constantly looking back at her every once in awhile.

"Peter, if you have something to say, just say it!"

"Will you go out with me?" He blurted.

Carter's mouth fell open and she stared at him, flabbergasted. "Uh…"

"Well?"

"Uh…" Carter shut her mouth, "Um, sure, I- I guess that could be fun… why not?"

"Don't say yes if you don't want to." Peter's face was bright red.

Carter shook her head wildly. "No, no, that's not it at all. I was just… surprised. You caught me a little off guard." She blushed.

Peter's head was ducked between his shoulders, and he fell completely silent.

"Peter?"

"Bruce isn't snoring anymore," he whispered.

" _Bruce!_ " Carter shouted.

"I'm not listening!" Bruce shouted back. "Don't mind me, please continue. I'll just be in here, not listening."

Peter laughed into his hands, face red all the way up to his ears.

Carter fell back into the couch, groaning. "Bruce, why do you do this to me?"

"Sorry about that." Bruce said from his room.

Peter looked over and whispered, "We should leave. Like, now."

"You're right, let's go." She threw herself off the couch and dragged Peter to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, Carter slid down the wall of the elevator, blushing furiously. "I can't believe he did that. Oh my gosh."

Peter's face was in the opposite corner of the elevator. He was bent nearly double, laughing and holding his stomach. "It hurts to laugh," he gasped.

Carter giggled slightly, before pushing herself off the floor. "Don't hurt yourself, lover boy."

He rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the concern. I really appreciate it."

She grinned up at him.

His face fell as the elevator slowed to a stop. "Close the doors, Laynie and Tony are fighting."

But it was too late, and the elevator doors opened with a cheery _ding_. The front door of the apartment was open, and sure enough, Laynie and her dad were standing on opposite sides of the room, having a very loud conversation.

"Wait here," Carter said, leaving Peter in the hallway. She slowly walked to the living room and stood in the doorway nervously, taking a deep breath, she said, "Guys, is everything okay?"

Her sudden appearance caused the two to stop fighting.

All the anger seemed to drain out of Laynie's face, "Oh, hey Carter. We were just… talking."

"It didn't sound like anyone was doing much talking." Carter frowned, "More like seeing who can scream louder."

Tony sighed, "I'm going to my lab, you're still grounded Laynie." He then turned and walked away.

Laynie sighed and sat down on the couch. "Sorry."

Carter padded into the room and sat down next to her. "Not your fault, don't apologize."

She laughed. "It's definitely my fault though. Do you think it's worth it? For me to be fighting with him all the time?"

"I'm not sure, Layn." Carter grabbed her hand and squeezed gently, "That's your decision to make, not mine. But, I will say this, he's only fighting with you because he's worried about you and wants you to be safe. So, don't be too mad at him."

"He's coddling me, Carter. He didn't want me to be around Wade, either. That's how this whole thing started. My mom never did this."

"Tony isn't your mom. You can't expect him to act like her. And to be fair, I'm not sure she'd want you around Wade either." Carter looked down at her feet. "And I don't exactly want you around him either." She said gently.

"Well, none of that matters now, does it? We don't even know where he is." She sighed. "Should I just find a hobby? Give up on the Iron Defender thing?"

Carter shrugged. "That's for you to decide."

"So, everything okay in here?" Peter said, poking his head in the doorway.

Laynie sat up and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah. Hey, are you feeling better?"

"I would be if Bruce and Carter hadn't made me bust stitches laughing." At each of the girls' horrified faces, he put his hands up. "Whoa, I was kidding. No busted stitches here."

Laynie sighed in relief. "What were you laughing about?"

"Well," Peter started, "I may have, you know, asked Carter… out."

"What?" Laynie shouted. Her face lit up in a grin. "Really?" She looked back and forth between her two friends. "That's so awesome. Go! Get out of here!"

Carter laughed. "What? Now?"

"Yeah, now. Go get breakfast or something. Brooding is a one-person activity anyway."

Carter shook her head and looked up at Peter. "Well, breakfast then?"

He shrugged. "That's fine with me."

Carter stood from the couch. "Let me go change clothes and we'll head out."

Peter looked down at his clothes, which were the same ones he'd worn the day before. "Yeah, I should probably stop by my house and grab some new clothes."

Thirty minutes later, both teens were sitting in fresh clothes at IHOP. They looked over their menus silently, sitting opposite each other, each trying not to be awkward.

"So, breakfast," Peter said slowly. "Are you a sausage or a bacon person?"

Carter looked up from her menu and stared at him for a moment, before bursting out laughing. "That's the question you chose to start off with on our first date?"

"That's an important question!" He put his menu down and leaned forward on the table. "If you don't like bacon, I can't date you."

"All you elitist bacon lovers are the same. Maybe I like sausage, you pompous jerk."

He laughed. "You're allowed to like sausage, you just can't dislike bacon!"

"I don't know if I can be in a relationship with someone so controlling. Bacon does not make or break a relationship, Peter. You must be willing to expand your horizons. Enjoy all the breakfast meats," she said sagely.

He picked his menu up again. "You know what, you might be right. I'll have some sausage today."

The waitress came by a few minutes later. "You two are so cute, how long have you been together?"

Carter almost spit out the water she was drinking. Coughing slightly, she shook her head wildly. "This is just our first date."

The waitress grinned. "How sweet."

Peter blushed and laughed nervously.

"Anyway, what can I get you two lovebirds?"

Peter gestured for Carter to go first. Once they had both given the waitress their orders, she clutched her notepad to her chest and looked between them while she shook her head. "You're just so cute. I'll have that out in a jiffy."

As soon as she was gone, they both started laughing.

"Well, that was interesting." Carter said as she regained her composure.

"Did she think we were married?" Peter asked. "Do I look that old now?"

"Do _I_ look that old? What are you implying, Peter?"

He laughed again and grabbed her hand across the table. "Carter, no, you're not old. You don't look a day over sixteen."

"Well, good." She nodded in approval.

The waitress walked by and noticed them holding hands. "Oh, to be young and in love." She said in passing.

They both retracted their hands as though they had been hit by a bolt of lightning. Both of them had red cheeks.

Peter didn't let them fall into awkward silence again. "Alright, cat person or dog person?"

"Both. Winter or summer?" Carter answered, throwing in her own question.

"Summer. Do you have any idea how little insulation that suit has? Caramel or chocolate?"

"Chocolate. I hate caramel."

"Get out."

"No." She grinned. "Beaches or mountains?"

"After that camping trip last fall, beaches. Always beaches. Disney or Nickelodeon?"

"I love Disney movies and the old disney shows, but their shows now are crap." She shrugged.

Suddenly, the waitress appeared again, their food in hand. "All right you little cuties, here's your breakfast! Let me know if you need anything, and remember to keep it PG in here." She winked as she walked away, and once again, both of them dissolved into giggles.

"She needs to be stopped," Peter said.

"Definitely never coming to this IHOP again," Carter said before digging into her pancakes.

Peter snorted. "Slow down, the pancakes aren't going anywhere."

Carter made an offended noise around her mouthful of pancake. "You don't understand the depth of my love for pancakes."

"Maybe not, but what I do understand is you'll make yourself sick if you eat too fast." Peter said taking a bite of his own pancakes.

"I don't care!" She said defiantly.

He watched her take another large bite, grimacing. "This is only our first date, please do not die."

She made a face at him and attacked her stack of pancakes once more. He shook his head, but smiled.

Once Carter had chomped her way through her pancakes, she attacked her sausage with about the same vigor. "Hey, you haven't eaten your sausage," Carter pointed out.

Peter shrugged. "I'm full."

She smiled. "You're lying. You don't like sausage, do you?"

"That's not true! I totally love sausage."

She stabbed one of the links with her fork and shoved it toward him. "Then prove it," she said with a smug smile.

Peter put his hands over his mouth and broke down laughing. "Okay, you were right. I can't stand sausage, it grosses me out so much."

"Elitist bacon lover!" Carter cried accusingly. She grabbed the sausage links off his plate and piled them onto hers. "Wasting perfectly good sausage." She muttered under her breath.

After two more harassing visits from the waitress, they paid their check and left the restaurant. Peter was still moving slow from the day before, but Carter was content to stroll down the sidewalk beside him.

"That was fun," Peter said with a smile.

"Yeah, we should definitely do it again sometime."  
Peter looked down at her, and grabbed her hand as they walked.

When they arrived at the tower, Carter invited him to come back up to Bruce's apartment with her, but he declined. They stood in front of the doors, saturday morning foot traffic flowing around them.

"This should be weirder than it is, right? Us dating?" Peter asked.

"Probably," Carter said with a grin.

"Well, uh, I guess I'll see you later?"

Carter reached out and grabbed his other hand, not really willing to let him go yet. She knew things would be tense in the tower for the next few days. She wasn't exactly eager to get back to it.

Peter ducked his head in an effort to see past her hair. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Hey, remember when we were in the kitchen during your graduation party?"

"The time where we almost…"

"Yeah."

He laughed softly. A passing stranger bumped into Peter, pushing him closer. "I haven't really been able to forget it."

Carter toed a little closer, and Peter took one hand out of hers to put it on her waist.

"Is this okay?" he breathed.

She hummed and darted up on her toes to meet him halfway. Their lips clashed in the middle, only for a split second, and it was breathtaking. Peter breathed a laugh.

"Gross! Take it inside!"

Carter jumped about five feet in the air as Clint breezed past, walking backwards to show them just how disgusted he really was.

"Oh my gosh, they're _everywhere_ ," Peter laughed.

"You should probably leave for real, before he goes and spreads the news."

Peter took a half-step away and hesitated. He gave her a goofy grin, then took off jogging toward home.

Carter smiled as she watched him go.

When she went into the tower, Clint peeled away from the wall beside the door and followed her, smirking as he kept pace.

She groaned, "Oh, what do you want?"

"What was that out there?" He asked.

"It was... just a date. That's all." She pressed the button to call the elevator.

"Ah," He nodded, entering the elevator behind her. "I'm not gonna have to follow you two around, like you and James, am I?"

Carter rolled her eyes, "No, no you will not. Peter isn't like James and you know it."

Clint shrugged, "Fine. But, if he hurts you, I'll kill him."

"Thanks Clint," Carter scoffed.

The elevator stopped, and Clint made a smoochy face at Carter as he got out. She yelled after him, cheeks pinkening for the millionth time that morning. At her stop, Carter started to get off the elevator. She barely had time to register the fact that the door was open before Laynie was up and off the couch, headed straight for her friend.

Laynie grabbed Carter's shoulders, grinning. "Tell me all about it."

She flopped into the couch, and Laynie sat on top of her. "It was...really weird. Because we're friends, but now we're friends that kiss?"

"You kissed him! Geez, Carter, on the first date, too."

"You know I have no self control, Laynie!" Carter covered her face with her hands. "So, I guess Peter is like my boyfriend now…" She giggled. "That's so weird."

"It seriously is. I can't believe you're on your second boyfriend and I haven't even had one."

Carter snorted. "To be fair, I don't really consider James my first boyfriend. More of a mistake than anything else really."

"Sorry," Laynie said with a grimace. "Here's hoping this one is better than the last."


	11. Chapter 11

Two evenly spaced knocks echoed across Tony's apartment, way after everyone else would be asleep.

He looked up from his tablet and narrowed his eyes at the door. Nobody on his team knocked like that, even if someone was awake.

"JARVIS, who's at the door?" He glanced down at the silver bracelet on his wrist, hoping he wouldn't need to call a suit.

"JARVIS?"

Tony approached the door quietly. "Who's there?"

"Agent Coulson."

Tony straightened up and groaned. He'd turned off JARVIS again.

"Now you say Agent Coulson who."

"What do you want?"

"To be let in?"

Tony opened the door and stood firmly in the doorway, pointedly not letting the other man through. "And?"

"To let you know that Laynie's suit has been returned. I even had it polished up. However, our tech wiz, Leopold Fitz, took the liberty of drawing up some schematics for me."

Tony's blood ran cold with anger.

"Now I know what you're thinking, and Fury did have a few schematics of your previous armors. I destroyed them upon taking over. The schematics for Iron Defender will only ever be used for Laynie, by Laynie."

"Okay, I have one question for you. Why do you insist on undermining my authority over her?"

Coulson crossed his arms, wearing that unreadable half-smile. "Maybe because I knew her first."

"Yeah, well my name is on the adoption papers."

"I was close to Rebecca. I can tell you with complete certainty that she would have allowed this. Especially under your supervision."

"Well that's the problem, Coulson. I didn't give her permission."

Coulson was quiet for a moment. "If, when Laynie turns eighteen, you still aren't allowing her to be Iron Defender, I will give her the schematics and allow her to build her armor. Until then, I'd advise you to strike a compromise with her. She's as stubborn as they come, Tony, but she doesn't always make the best choices. I'm afraid she's going to do something you'll both come to regret."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the parenting advice Agent Unpropitious. Get out of my building."

* * *

Laynie clapped her hands together, smiling. "It's done?"

Kate shut her laptop with a self-satisfied smile. "Yep. Should we call the team?"

"I'll get Carter, you call the guys, and we'll meet there."

"Sounds good." She paused. "I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do without your suit?"

Laynie stood from her desk and walked across the room to her closet, where she pulled a metal rod out of a drawer. "Natasha taught me how to brawl. Krav Maga, Tai Kwon Do. Steve taught me how to defend myself and how to keep a level head in battle. But Clint..." Laynie pressed a button on the rod and either side extended. She rested the tip on the carpet beside her, and the rod stood as tall as she did. "Clint taught me weaponry."

Kate grinned. "Bo staff. Very stylish. Close combat, though."

Laynie shrugged. "I'll deal."

"Alright." Kate stood and put her laptop in its bag. "I'll see you there. Make sure you bring Carter's tech setup and all your research."

"Right. See you soon."

Laynie collapsed the staff and pulled a belt out of the same drawer she'd taken it out of. It had a special sheath attached that ran horizontally across the small of her back, and a magnet that would keep the staff firmly in the sheath.

After putting it on and throwing her backpack over her shoulders, she left her room to knock on the door of Carter's.

"Come in!" Carter called to Laynie.

Laynie stepped in and found Carter spread out across her bed, playing on her phone.

"What's up?" Carter asked, looking up at Laynie.

"I want to show you something."

Carter sat up. "Okay."

"No, no, it's big. We have to go uptown."

Carter looked confused. "Okay then." She quickly slid on a pair of boots and pushed herself off the bed. "Let's go."

Kate was already waiting with Peter and Noh-Varr by the time the girls got there.

"Okay Laynie, seriously, what's going on?" Carter asked.

Noh-Varr raised his hand and looked between Laynie and Kate. "I second this line of questioning."

"Oh, chill. Don't ruin the surprise."

The team entered the tall, slightly dilapidated office building all together. Kate stopped at the front desk, putting both her hands on the waist-high counter and giving the woman behind it a charming smile. "Hello, I'm Kate Bishop. I was just on the phone with you, I think."

"Of course, Miss Bishop." She turned in her swiveling chair and pulled a card out of a cabinet. "Come talk to me on your way down and we'll have extras made for your employees."

Peter bumped Carter and looked down at her, questioningly mouthing, 'Employees?'.

Carter shrugged. "I have no idea."

Kate led the party into the elevator. She pushed the key into the slot, which was there in place of buttons, and the elevator shot up.

"Alright guys," she said excitedly. "Welcome to Young Avengers HQ!"

The elevators opened on a dingy office space, dimly lit by the sun coming in through the floor to ceiling windows. There was a resounding silence as everyone stepped off the elevator.

"Isn't it great?" Laynie asked.

Carter looked around. "It looks like it could use some remodeling."

"I'm confused. Did you just say Young Avengers HQ? I thought Tony was still against the whole thing?" Peter asked.

"That's the best part!" Kate exclaimed. "You guys seem to constantly forget that Laynie isn't the only rich kid around here. My family is loaded. I bought the space, and we're going to go solo. We won't need any of the Avengers' help. A team is coming by in the morning to brighten it up. And Carter, we're bringing in all new tech and top-of-the-line software. It'll do most of the hacking work for you, once you input the algorithms."

"I'm all for less work." Carter grinned.

"I'm not sure the Avengers will be very enthused with this idea..." Peter sighed, looking concerned.

"You worry too much, Peter." Carter rolled her eyes.

"Yeah Peter," Noh-Varr said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Chill out."

Peter sent a sidelong look at Noh-Varr, but he didn't say anything else.

"Okay, now for the real reason we're all here."

Laynie walked further into the office and dragged a dusty old table into the center of the room. She slapped her backpack down on top of it and unloaded her laptop.

"Coulson came by yesterday." She briefly met Peter's eyes. "He couldn't find anything on Wade."

He nodded grimly. Carter reached out and took his hand.

"But he did give me a tip. A source in Russia spotted Marrow yesterday. He's been scoping out this hotel in Kazan, where a Russian politician and his daughter, Lilia Vasilyev, are supposed to be staying tomorrow night. Deadpool has not been spotted, but then again, he never really is." Laynie paused to hand out pictures of the hotel, along with a floor plan, and the picture of Brandt that had been dropped off by Coulson. "Sorry about the hard copies. We'll have fancy tech tomorrow. Anyway, Mr. Vasilyev recently made a bold move and supported SHIELD in a very public way. Apparently Hydra didn't like that, because Black Marrow was commissioned to kidnap Lilia. All of Coulson's sources point toward the kidnapping taking place tomorrow. Mr. Vasilyev has requested SHIELD protection."

"And we can trust his sources?" Noh-Varr asked.

"If he trusts them, so do I. He wouldn't set us up with information he wasn't one hundred and ten percent sure about."

"What does this have to do with us?" Peter asked.

"Everything. See, Coulson doesn't have boots on the ground in Russia, and he's apparently dealing with some stuff of his own that he can't spare a team. That's where we come in."

Laynie briefly explained the plan for their Russian excursion before leaving them to their own devices.

Carter wandered about the decrepit building, surveying their new HQ.

"Hey Carter?"

She turned to look over her shoulder and found Peter walking toward her. "Yeah?" She smiled brightly.

He smiled back. "I've got to go, but I was wondering if you'd like to go out tonight."

"I'd love to. Where are we going?"

Peter grinned shyly. "You'll find out later. I'll pick you up at the Tower at five, alright?"

Carter nodded. "Alright. I'll see you at five."

"Great!" Peter laughed and started backing up toward the elevator. He almost tripped over a fake plant on his way out.

"Careful, Peter." Carter giggled.

Peter smiled sheepishly at her before leaving.

Laynie appeared beside Carter as if by some magic, grinning. "He's adorable. You're adorable. I ship it."

Carter rolled her eyes.

Laynie's grin faltered and she took on a more serious face. "Are you okay with this setup? Dad's not going to be happy with me, and I don't want you getting caught up in the middle of this if you aren't willing."

Carter shrugged. "I'll be fine. Bruce will be cool with it so long as I'm not in the middle of the action."

"Good. Well I'm gonna head home, I want to get some training in before we head out tomorrow. We're taking Kate's normal person jet, so we have to be there bright and early." Laynie took a few backward steps toward the elevator as she kept talking. "Don't stay out too late with your boy-frand," she finished with a wink.

Carter rolled her eyes once more. "Have fun with the training."

Laynie walked home alone, enjoying the fresh summer air. She didn't spend a lot of time alone and actually like it. She was frequently left alone in the tower, these days, but that was the depressing, unwilling kind of loneness. Being by herself of her own volition felt nice.

Once in the tower again, she went upstairs and changed into a tank top and some soft shorts before heading a few floors down, to the training area.

Laynie connected her phone to JARVIS, and put on some music. It blasted through the overhead speakers, drowning out everything else in her head. She started with some quick stretches, and half an hour later, she was punching the bag a little harder than she really had to. She alternated hooks, crosses, jabs, and elbows. She threw in the occasional backfist when she felt like it.

This was just her warmup, really. Next would be kicks, then she would practice rolls, and maybe see if anyone was around who'd be willing to be beaten up by her bo staff.

For as much as she wanted to let her music drown out what she was feeling, she couldn't get it out of her mind. She stepped back from the bag and threw a kick. She waited for it to come back, then went back to punches.

There was nothing holding her down anymore. Her relationship with Tony had been really touch and go since Christmas. Pepper was actively avoiding anyone who lived in the tower, Natasha was gone. She found herself longing for her old life with her mom. She'd long since accepted that no amount of Tony's love would alleviate the pain in her heart, but she was beginning to find that the absence of his love made it a lot worse.

In a perfect world, Laynie would still be with her mom, and she'd be aggressively working for a spot in the SHIELD academy. The operations division, of course. She wouldn't be fighting Tony to be Iron Defender, she wouldn't be feeling so lonely. In a perfect world, Wade wouldn't be missing.

Maybe she would have never met him at all.

She didn't do many kicks, opting instead for sit ups. She had lost count of her reps when her music cut abruptly.

She stopped, breathing heavily and rubbing the tight spot in the center of her chest. Maybe such an intense workout wasn't a good idea right before a mission. She probably shouldn't be pushing herself this hard anyway.

"JARVIS? What the heck, man?"

"I did it," Tony said. He laughed a little as he approached her. "You're turning into me."

She couldn't help but crack a smile. He'd sworn out some and chased others down with garage tools for turning off his music. There had been some of the same venom in Laynie's voice.

"I've always hated it when people do that, for the record."

He hesitated on the edge of the mat. "I believe it."

Laynie walked around him to get her water bottle, taking a long drink before sitting on the edge of the mat. "What's up?"

He sat down beside her and rested his elbows on his knees. "Well, everyone upstairs can hear your music."

"Oh, sorry."

There was an awkward silence. Laynie wasn't sure when they had last been in the same room for so long without fighting.

"Are you okay?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Me? Yeah, I mean, I was just a little winded."

"No, I wasn't talking about that," Tony said, a little frustrated. "I mean...With everything that's going on."

She leaned back on the mat, resting on her elbows and avoiding eye contact. "I'm fine."

Tony scoffed, but he didn't say anything else.

There was another long silence. Laynie was unsure of how to fill it. Obviously her dad had something to say, otherwise he wouldn't still be sitting beside her.

"How long are you grounded for again?"

"Wait, I'm grounded?"

There was a pause, and both of them laughed.

"Has there been a time in the last six months where you weren't?"

She shook her head. "No, probably not. Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. It's not like it's really keeping you from going anywhere anyway." He groaned and rubbed a hand across his face. "That sounded like a jab. I just meant that I'm not around to—to enforce it. It's pointless."

"I agree," Laynie said quietly.

Tony sighed, and turned to look at her. "Sorry to interrupt. I'm going to go back upstairs." He ruffled her hair, a little damp with sweat near her forehead. "Love you."

She paused, watching him walk out. "I love you too," she called.

Tony leaned into the wall of the elevator as it took him up. When he stepped off the elevator onto the main floor of the tower, he immediately veered off to the kitchen. Without Pepper around to stock the fridge in their—or, his apartment, there was rarely any food in it at all. He had resorted to taking food from the main floor rather than shopping for himself.

He stuck his head in the fridge, then closed it again and leaned against the counter. He didn't really want food. What he wanted was a distraction from the conversation he'd just had.

"Hey Tony," Bruce greeted as he walked past him and to the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water, then paused. "Everything alright?"

He gave his colleague a blank look. "Y'know Brucey, I'm honestly not sure. I just had a conversation with Laynie that was startlingly devoid of raised voices."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Bruce asked.

He laughed. The noise kind of surprised him. "Yeah, it is. It just hasn't happened in a while."

Bruce gave him a bemused smile.

"Do you think I'm being too hard on her?"

Bruce sighed. "Honestly, yes. She's a smart girl and brave too. I think she'll be able to handle herself out there. And why give her the suit if you didn't intend for her to use it?"

Tony was silent for a moment. "I didn't give it to her. I never meant for her to use it whenever. Maybe in an emergency, maybe, but... I just wanted to do it."

"And as usual, you didn't think of the repercussions beforehand."

Tony cast him a sideways glance.

"Look, Tony, the only reason I don't want Carter out there is because she has no training. But Laynie came to us half trained. Think about when Carter was shot in Costco—Laynie didn't even think about it. She busted open a package of paper towels and put pressure on it right there. Rebecca had been teaching her how to fight for years before we met her. Her mom was a fighter, and now she has you to look up to. She's going to do this, Tony, with or without you."

Tony was silent for a moment. He found a lump in his throat that was hard to talk around. "I guess you're right."

"So... What are you going to do about it?"

Tony stood up suddenly and put his hands on his hips, staring into space. "I don't know yet." He clapped Bruce on the shoulder, then disappeared.

In another part of the tower, Carter had just spent an hour figuring out what she was going to wear for her date. She finally decided on a light blue, knee-length dress. After waiting around for a while, having gotten ready too early, JARVIS piped up to inform her that her date had arrived.

"Thank you, JARVIS."

She quickly grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs before Clint or Steve could ambush Peter.

"So, you and Carter then?" Clint asked.

"Uh, yeah." Peter went bright red.

Carter groaned and stomped out to the living room.

She grabbed Peter's arm as she passed. "Bye Clint!" She said, dragging Peter toward the elevator.

"Don't stay out too late." Bruce called from the kitchen.

"Got it!" Carter called back before the elevator doors closed.

"Thank you so much." Peter buried his face in his hands.

Carter grinned. "Oh trust me, it was just as much for me as it was for you."

Peter chuckled.

As they were exited the building Carter asked, "So, where are we going?"

"You'll see." Peter smiled and offered her his arm.

Carter rolled her eyes and linked arms with him.

After a walk around the city and the sun had set, Peter had led her to an old, abandoned building.

"Uh..." Carter looked up at Peter curiously.

He led her to where he had set up two chairs. "Wait here."

"...Okay." Carter watched as he ran off.

Next thing she knew, Sleeping Beauty was being projected on the side of the building.

Carter looked up with a big smile.

"You told me it was your favorite Disney movie. After Lion King, that is." Peter said.

"Oh Peter, I love it." Carter jumped up and hugged him. "You really go all out, don't you?"

He blushed and held up a basket. "I brought food. You wanna sit?" He gestured to the chairs.

Carter nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Peter pulled a blanket out of the basket and draped it across Carter's lap, then started unloading snacks. All of the things he already knew she liked, and a couple he'd asked Laynie about.

"How'd you get it up there? The movie?"

Peter shrugged, smiling down at the basket. "Technology stuff, y'know."

She laughed.

They watched the movie in silence for a while. Halfway into "Once Upon A Dream" Carter leaned into Peter's shoulder. He put an arm around her.

"Are you serious about this?"

She looked up at him with a dead serious look. "Yes. This movie is amazing, don't get me wrong, but Lion King will always be the best."

He laughed. "No, no, not that. I mean, y'know, us? Dating me?"

"Oh!" Carter chuckled nervously. "Yes. Yes, of course I am." She pulled away from to look him in the eye. "After what happened with James last year. I wasn't really sure I'd be up for dating again anytime soon. And I knew that when I did start dating again I wanted it to be with someone I really cared about." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

Peter nodded. "I swear I'll never do what he did to you."

Carter leaned back toward him. "I know."

"I've gotta tell you, I haven't dated a lot since Gwen because... well, it's really hard to keep secrets. But I have to be sure I'm not telling people I can't trust."

"Like your aunt?"

Peter fell silent.

"I was just kidding, Peter."

He let out a nervous laugh. "Right."

"I get why you haven't told her."

"Right. I was just trying to say...I like being with you. A lot. That's all."

Carter smiled. "I like being with you too." She quickly pecked him on the lips. "Now, hush, I want to watch the movie."

Carter felt his chest tighten against her side, then he let out a breath and kissed her on top of the head, probably grinning like an idiot.


	12. Chapter 12

The next day, Carter and Laynie reported to the new Young Avengers HQ bright and early. _Too_ early, in their opinion.

"I'm beginning to regret agreeing to this," Carter yawned.

Peter, on the other hand, was wide awake. "This is so exciting." He rocked back and forth on his feet.

Carter groaned. "Your enthusiasm is unwelcome."

He bumped her with his elbow and grinned. Under his civilian clothes, he already wore his blue and red. "Aw, come on. We're going to _Russia_. To beat up bad guys. This is exciting."

Carter shook her head firmly, leaning into his side and letting her eyes drift shut. "You know what's exciting? Sleep."

He laughed.

Laynie was pacing up and down the room as they waited for Kate to arrive. Workers were slowly trickling into the building, with paint and plaster and furniture for the space. Since yesterday, it had already been cleaned and better lighting had been put in. They parted around Laynie, some giving her glances. She paid them no mind, staring at the ground and twirling her collapsed bo staff like a baton in her hand.

Noh-Varr touched her arm once as she passed, making her jump. She looked a little irritated as she looked up.

"What?"

"Are you alright?"

She paused, and her face softened. "Yeah. I'm just..."

"Having second thoughts?"

She glanced over to Carter and Peter, standing nearer to the door and talking to each other. "Sort of. I had a conversation with my dad yesterday, and we didn't fight at all."

He brushed a strand of white hair behind his ear, smiling easily like he always did. "And you're wondering what you want more. A relationship with your father, or this life as a hero?"

"Wow," she laughed. "Are there some powers you aren't telling us about?"

His smile widened. "Oh, how does your Earth saying go? You wear your heart on your sleeve."

She felt her face flush a little. "Thanks?"

Kate jogged in at that moment, saving Laynie from having to continue the conversation. As much as she loved Noh-Varr, his tendency to observe his friends and openly speak his mind sometimes made for hard conversation.

"Sorry I'm late!" Kate said, panting. She was wearing her purple jumpsuit, and carried a duffle bag that no doubt held her quiver and bow. Her sunglasses were crooked on her face. "Is everyone ready?"

Twenty minutes later, they were all on a jet with a seven hour ride ahead of them.

The team made good use of their long flight. Carter produced her blueprints of the hotel where everything was supposed to go down, and they went over them until they practically had the layout memorized. Laynie went over the plan with them three times, and they spent the rest of the flight just resting.

By the time they touched down in Russia, they felt well rested and well prepared. To Peter's disappointment, they were scheduled to rendezvous with their SHIELD liaison immediately after landing, in the hotel room directly below the one in which their operation would take place.

"This will be the closest I've been to the action so far," Carter mused as they made their way down the hall.

"But you'll be safe," Peter said firmly. It was almost as if he was trying to convince himself.

Laynie knocked three times on the door, and after a moment's pause, it swung open on a blonde woman. She was tall—almost as tall as Peter—and rather intimidating.  
"Come in." It was more of a command than an invitation. She opened the door wider and they all tramped in.

The hotel room was large and luxurious, no doubt only a taste of what was above their heads. Laynie and Kate had split the cost of the room between their generous allowances to save Coulson the money, so she knew exactly how fancy the hotel was.

As soon as Laynie put her bag down, she turned to the agent and asked, "Where's Agent Triplett? Director Coulson said we would be meeting with him."

She hesitated to answer, eyes drifting across the young team. "Agent Triplett is no longer with us."

Laynie blinked rapidly, trying to process the information. "With—with SHIELD?"

"He's dead. He died a hero."

There was a grim silence.

The agent took a step forward and extended her hand to Laynie first. "Agent Bobbi Morse. Coulson hand picked me to oversee your mission, I assure you. A lot has happened since you last spoke with him."

"Yeah... I can see that." She took Bobbi's hand, and watched her as she moved to introduce herself to the rest of the team.

"We have two hours until we need to be in place," Kate said, looking between her teammates. "We should get ready."

"Yeah," Laynie said distractedly. "Agent Morse, have you been briefed on our plan?"

"Yes." She sat at the large table in the center of the common room of the suite. "I'm going to tell you all up front: I don't approve of this. I think it's a terrible idea to send underaged, under-trained powers into the field like this."

Laynie nodded and took a seat at the table with her laptop and her notebook. "Take it up with Coulson, Agent Morse. We're all aware of the risks and the gravity of the situation."

A ghost of a smirk appeared on Agent Morse's face before leaving to allow the teens to prepare for their mission.

"She seems nice." Carter said sarcastically.

Laynie snorted. "Let's just focus on what we came here for. I'm determined not to mess this one up. Now, the ultimate goal is to take Deadpool and Black Marrow into custody. If we can't do this, Coulson has authorized us to use lethal force." She paused. "But let's just try to take them in, okay? At any rate, the real goal is to not get hurt, and not let them get away."

There was a murmur of understanding around the table. Laynie got up and grabbed her duffle bag, then headed for the bathroom. Carter started setting up her laptop, connecting it to Laynie's for a better setup. She'd spend the next hour testing equipment and tapping into the hotel's security system.

The entire team was ready early, save for Laynie, and all anxiously waiting near the door. They still had thirty minutes before they were supposed to take their posts.  
Kate was looking dapper, dressed as a security guard. Peter was wearing his Spidey suit sans mask, awkwardly standing against the wall. Literally. His feet were adhered to it along with his back and the pads of his fingers. Carter had completely taken over the table with her tech and snacks, and Noh-Varr was lounging nearby.

"What's taking Laynie so long?" Peter asked nobody in particular.

Laynie came out of the bathroom with a thin, sheer sheet in her hands. She was dressed in clothes that she would have never worn, but unfortunately, the young Lilia Vasilyev did. "Can someone help me out with this?"

Bobbi stood from the couch and took it from her, carefully laying it across her face and activating it.

The nano mask concealed Laynie's face, turning her into the slightly younger Lilia, complete with a long brown wig.

"That is freaky," Kate said with a little laugh. "Does it feel weird?"

Laynie twisted her face up, then shrugged. "You know those exfoliating mask things? It's kinda like that." She checked the clock on the wall, then turned to Carter. "You got everything done on your end?"

"Yep!" Carter gave her a thumbs up, "All good here."

Laynie nodded and took an earpiece from those lined up on the table. Each of them took one afterwards.

"Alright. Last minute questions?"

There was silence.

"I have one thing to say, then. Let's stay safe and catch these jerks."

"Oh good," Kate sighed. "I thought you were gonna make us put our hands together and say Young Avengers or something."

They all laughed. Kate, like Clint, was always good for easing the tension.

The getting into position without giving themselves away was tricky and a little time consuming, but they pulled it off without a hitch. The Vasilyevs were spirited away by their security escort, and Laynie took the place of Lilia.

Laynie sagged in her chair, having read the same paragraph three times without absorbing a word of it. She glanced to Noh-Varr, hidden in the hall from sight through the windows, and then looked back down to her book.

"Hawkeye, anything?"

In the hallway, outside the suite, Kate touched a finger to her ear and gave a grim, "Nothing."

Peter, also hidden from view but this time from the elevator, let his head fall against the wall. "At what point do we call it?"

"Definitely not yet," Laynie sighed. "I don't think Marrow would have gone to all this trouble to change plans now."

"Unless he made us," Kate suggested.

None of them wanted to think of that possibility, so nobody else spoke.

Twenty minutes later, Peter stood stock straight in the hallway. "Something's about to happen."

Carter confirmed it a millisecond later. "Security cameras grabbed Brandt, he just got on the elevator."

Laynie tried not to visibly change, but every muscle in her body tensed. Noh-Varr put his hand on his gun.

The elevator doors slid open slowly, and Kate narrowed her eyes behind tinted glasses.

Within the blink of an eye, she had her bow strung and pointed at Marrow's chest.

"Target sighted. Brandt, come quietly now."

He grinned, putting his hands up slowly. "Hello again, young lady. Looks like I walked myself right into a trap."

"You sure did, buddy."

Brandt had a pistol drawn and trained on Kate in the same amount of time it took her to release the bowstring. An arrow arced across the hallway and landed at his feet, bursting into purple goo that adhered him to the floor.

Peter dropped from the ceiling at that moment and reinforced the trap with webbing before landing a sound roundhouse on Marrow's head. He crumpled to the floor.

Kate jogged down the hallway and high-fived Peter. "Putty arrow!" she shouted. "I _love_ putty arrows! Target is down, cuffing him now."

Laynie let out an involuntary cheer, and Noh-Varr put a finger over his lips. "Don't forget about our friend in red."

She gave him an apologetic glance, then pretended to continue reading.

As Kate bent to cuff Brandt, Peter's Spider-Sense went ballistic. He reached out to grab her arm, but it was too late. Brandt grabbed the cuffs and whipped Kate across the face with them, leaving the taste of blood in her mouth. She scrambled for her bow, and Peter kicked a gun out of his hand.

" _Uh oh_ ," Carter's voice said in Laynie's ear. " _He was playing dead_."

Laynie barely had time to process this before the floor-to-ceiling window was smashed to smithereens. Deadpool landed on his feet with double swords in hand, pointed toward Laynie, head tilted at the girl showing no fear. She hadn't so much as startled.

"Hello Lilia, my name is Deadpool! I'm here to kidnap you."

Noh-Varr barreled out of the hall as Deadpool raised a gun. He fired three beams, perfectly aimed, and each one bounced off a katana.

"Ohh! It's you!" Deadpool's cheery voice dropped in tone dramatically, almost to a growl, and he said, "I've got a score to settle with you."

Laynie jumped out of her chair and extended her bo staff, intervening before Noh-Varr was sliced in half. She stopped a sword inches from his face, and locked eyes with Deadpool before pushing it away.

He gave another delighted squeal. Laynie's blood turned to ice in her veins. She knew that noise from somewhere.

She deflected another blow from Deadpool, and landed a crushing blow on his ribs. She heard the CRACK from a yard away, but it didn't phase him.

In the hallway, Peter threw another wad of webbing at Marrow, missing the barrel of his gun by a mile. The mercenary was coated in the stuff, but it wasn't impeding him at all. Kate was irritated now, with a circle of red across her face from the cuff, and a smear of blood on the corner of her mouth. She fired a blunt-tipped arrow at the back of Marrow's neck. He went down on his knees as the metal made impact with his spine. But as Peter approached, he fired blindly, nearly putting a hole in him. He turned on his knees, drew a knife from his belt, and threw it at Kate. It severed her bowstring, and a muscle in her shoulder.

Inside the room, Deadpool was deflecting shots from Noh-Varr with one sword, and sparring Laynie with the other. He did it with effortless grace, laughing and the entire time.

Noh-Varr yelped as one of his own beams singed the top of his bun. While he was distracted, Deadpool made a crack shot at Laynie, then sliced the end of the barrel right off the gun.

Laynie took a step back and met Noh-Varr's eyes for a moment, just to know he was okay.

"Who are you?" Deadpool asked her. His voice was filled with genuine intrigue. "Are you free on Saturday?"

Laynie didn't engage. Instead, she pulled the troublesome wig off, revealing her bright red, short shock of hair, and waited for Deadpool to make the first move.  
"Mm, love that hair. Are you wearing a SHIELD nanomask? Cause I've heard those things have a nasty way of adhering to skin."

Laynie could _hear_ the sleazy grin in his voice. It made her skin crawl, and it sent warning bells off in her head. She felt like she knew him. "And I've heard Hydra agents have a history of losing to Avengers."

He was silent for a second, then he started laughing. Laynie dropped her defensive stance as he leaned over, hand on his knee, and actually guffawed. "Avengers! Ha! That is _rich_! I like you, kid!" He sighed, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. "Too bad I have to kill you."

He raised his swords and dove in for an attack, and Laynie deftly angled her staff to deflect both swords. He struck at her from the side, and she blocked it. She ducked the other sword, coming in from her left, and jabbed the end of her staff into Deadpool's stomach. He stumbled a few steps backward, toward the fifty story drop behind him, before righting himself.

Outside, Kate was faced with a tough decision. Bleeding, out of breath, and without a bow, she was in a heap on the ground, watching Marrow from below.  
After putting a knife in her chest, Marrow had somehow made one of Peter's web shooters explode on him, covering him in the white stickiness. He'd then turned and twisted the knife before yanking it out of Kate's chest and trying to slash her throat. She intercepted the knife with her useless bow, and whipped him across the face with it, shouting something about payback that she herself didn't quite hear.

It had been an ugly three-way, hand to hand fight after that, and the good guys didn't come out on top. Kate wasn't even sure when she'd ended up on the ground, but there was a pain in her left temple that blurred her vision.

She could see Peter, with his mask torn and Marrow's pistol on his forehead. He was the only thing between Marrow and what he thought was the politician's daughter.  
Kate saw his finger move to the trigger in slow motion, and knew there was only one thing she could do.

She pulled an arrow out of her quiver, leapt to her feet, and stuck it in Brandt's neck. The arrow went through his flesh like a warm knife in butter, and it sunk all the way through to where her hand was on the shaft. She was splattered with blood.

Brandt gave one bloody cough before collapsing, dead.

Carter let out a strangled gasp on the comm.

Kate fell to her knees.

Peter released one shocked, choked sob, glanced down at Kate, and his eyes settled on Marrow's eyes, staring up at nothing.


	13. Chapter 13

Laynie was getting tired, and she knew she couldn't keep it up.

It was like Deadpool was experiencing the battle in slow motion, allowing him to anticipate her every move and constantly be a step ahead of her. She knew she had already sustained a few cuts, and her arms were tired from the strength of Deadpool's blows. But as long as he had those long swords, Noh-Varr had no way to help.

"Hawkeye, Spidey," she grunted as she stumbled back a step from the force of Deadpool's sword hitting her staff. "We could use a little help!"

Deadpool took a step back, panting. He didn't even have to think as he turned on his heel and put his boot in Noh-Varr's crotch as the alien tried to rush him.

"I've got to admit, I'm impressed." He sheathed his swords. "There aren't many people who can fight with me and keep their head on. Or their limbs."

"Thanks," she said flippantly.

"So can I _preeeetty_ please see your face? I need to know."

"What?"

"If it's as hot as your skills. Skills with a Z, baby." His mask moved as if he was smiling.

Laynie's lip curled up in a sneer. "Tell you what. We have Mr. Vasilyev and his daughter somewhere safe. You're not kidnapping anyone tonight, okay? If you let us take you in to SHIELD, I'll show you."

"Hmmm." He tilted his head to the side, then sighed. "Yeah, no deal."

He drew a pistol from his belt, and Laynie wasn't fast enough.

She was grazed on the side as she dove out of the line of fire. She landed on the floor with a grunt, and instantly put her hand over the wound.

Deadpool holstered the gun and knelt in front of her, rubbing his hands together. He delicately peeled up the edge of the mask, then ripped it off like a band-aid.  
He froze as he looked at her, dropping the mask.

Laynie didn't stop to think why he froze, she just took the opportunity to throw her knee up and clock him on the side of the head. She rolled to her feet with one hand on the wound, but ready to fight.

Apparently knocked out of his stupor, Deadpool reached out and grabbed her ankle. He sprawled her out on the floor an inch from the window's edge. Her skin picked up even more broken glass. Laynie's fear of heights kicked in, and probably saved her life. She rolled over and sat straight up, only to punch Deadpool square in the face.

He hit the carpet, and as fair payback, Laynie ripped the mask off _his_ face.

She let out a startled shout, then scooted back on her hands, horrified. Noh-Varr staggered to his feet and rushed to her side. He pulled her up, careful not to touch any of the glass pieces in her arms and hands, _or_ the wound on her side.

Deadpool stood up slowly, blood pouring out of his nose. He had a handsome face, tan, with a splatter of freckles across his nose. His dirty blond hair, nearly the same shade as his skin, was cropped close to his head.

"Wade?" Noh-Varr spluttered. "Wade Wilson?"

Laynie nodded to confirm it, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Laynie," Wade breathed. For a moment, recognition flickered across his eyes. Then they were clouded with confusion, and finally, he turned tail and ran.

Laynie and Noh-Varr followed him as he made a break for the front door. Terror seized his face as he tripped over Brandt's body. He stopped, staring at the dead eyes for a split second, then looked up to Peter and kept running.

The four of them faintly heard Carter's voice in their ears, telling them to hold their position. Bobbi was going to pursue Deadpool. Wade.

Laynie looked down at her hand, literally dripping blood. Her borrowed clothes were quickly turning red. Half a second later, her vision blurred, doubled, and finally blacked out altogether.

Noh-Varr grabbed Laynie before she hit the ground, and eased her down. He took her pulse, which was racing and erratic, then put his finger on the piece in his ear. "Carter, Laynie needs medical attention." He looked over his other team members. "Kate as well."

Her response came a beat later. "Yeah, I'm already on it. Ambulance en route. Can you get Laynie and Kate to me?"

Peter acted without Noh-Varr having to ask. He helped Kate to her feet and took her quiver, letting her lean on him and guiding her to the elevator. Marrow's blood was streaked with her tears, but her face remained frozen in shock.

Noh-Varr went back for Laynie's bo staff and the nanomask, then carried her and all it to the elevator.

Bobbi and the paramedics came up to the room together. By her request, spoken in choppy Russian, the paramedics stitched up the girls in the room rather than taking them to a hospital.

Laynie had come to by the time Bobbi and the paramedics arrived. She remained pale and quiet. Even though they insisted she had lost plenty enough blood to have blacked out, she sheepishly told one of the paramedics, "I'm squeamish. Only of my own blood."

Wade had known that about her.

Thankfully, the bullet had only grazed Laynie. It still hurt like hell, but it would heal quickly without any lasting damage. Besides a scar, of course. She was quickly building a collection of those.

The poor paramedics had to remove glass from each of her limbs, as well as her stomach, stitch and bandage her bullet wound, and make sure she wasn't in any danger of passing out again.

Kate had been stirred from her shock only slightly. Mixed with the concussion she'd suffered, her mind was too full to speak much. A kind paramedic mopped blood off her face and spoke softly to her in broken English about how he was sure she'd done what was necessary. He recognized the team from a news broadcast, apparently. He might have been some kind of superhero fanatic.

Mostly unharmed, Noh-Varr sat in the corner of the room and watched as three of his teammates were tended to.

He had only ever seen pictures of Wade Wilson. Laynie had one on her refrigerator, and one on her phone that she'd shown him when he'd first asked about the missing friend. Tonight she had been shot by him, this boy that she'd regarded so deeply. Noh-Varr wasn't about to say he understood human emotion, or how their relationships worked, but he was nearly certain that it wasn't common for friends to go insane, go missing, and then come back as a mercenary. He wondered why Laynie had thought so highly of the maniac, if he had always been this way, how he had become Deadpool. He wondered a lot, and there weren't a wealth of answers.

The paramedics bandaged Peter's various lacerations, and the stab wound in Kate's shoulder. They said it was mostly superficial, but they were still grumpy that Bobbi wouldn't let them take her to the hospital for it.

Before leaving, the kind paramedic who spoke some English gave them all a sad smile and said, "Russia thanks you for whatever you have done tonight, Avengers."

* * *

By two in the morning, Kate and Noh-Varr were sound asleep. Kate on one of three beds in the suite, and Noh-Varr on the couch in the room. He had wanted to be nearby, in case nightmares followed her to sleep. As Carter had finished putting away her gear, Peter had fallen asleep keeping her company at the table. She woke him and they went to the other pull-out. Bobbi was still in the other bedroom giving Coulson a full report.

Laynie sat on the couch (which Noh-Varr had folded out into a bed for her before going to sleep), fiddling with her cellphone. She was under strict instructions not to move too much, otherwise she'd have been pacing. There was too much going on in her head.

She turned onto her good side on the fold-out-bed, and her thumb hovered over the 'call' button. She hit it.

It rang four times before she thought to consider what time it was in New York. And by the time she'd done the math, he answered. "Hmm?"

"Dad," Laynie said, trying to keep tears at bay. "I need you."

" _What_?" he asked groggily. " _I thought you were...with Kate. Summer vacation or something._ "

She drew her lips together, staring out at the dim room. "Can you just—come get me?"

There was a rustle on the other end, and a painfully long wait. " _Are you okay Laynie?_ "

She sniffled, then sobbed. "No. I need you."

" _JARVIS, pull her location. Layn, should I take a suit or a quinjet?_ "

She considered it for a second. "Whatever gets you here fastest."

" _Alright. It'll just be a couple hours._ " there was a pause on the other end. " _Hey, I love you._ "

"I love you too."

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes:**_

 _ **Lartovio:** Sorry about the evil cliffhanger on the last chapter! I couldn't help myself. Thank you all for your incredible patience and dedication to this series, as well as all your beautiful reviews! Have a good week, all!_


	14. Chapter 14

It was seven AM Russia time, and Tony's fastest armor was on the roof. Everyone else was asleep. Laynie had been able to blissfully sob her heart out into her Dad's shirt for a solid ten minutes before she had to haltingly explain her injuries and the rest of the story.

Laynie's punishment was watching Tony's face turn redder and redder as she told the whole story. It was worse seeing the water in his eyes when she showed him the bullet wound on her side.

But perhaps the most torment was having to tell him what Wade had become, and what he had done. Tony's face turned the final, reddest shade of red that could exist on a live human, and he jumped out of his seat.

He silently paced the carpet, arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm done," Laynie choked. "I can't do this. I—I thought I could, but I can't. Wade is—God, he's gone. He didn't even recognize me."

Tony stopped pacing and looked Laynie over. She was curled up in the very corner of the

couch, the one not folded out into a bed, favoring her injured side. He could see every bit of hurt and fear and regret spelled out in those bloodshot green eyes. She was silently begging for his forgiveness, but this time, he was finding that she didn't need it.

He didn't say anything. He sat down beside her and did what he should have been doing all along, the _first_ time Wade broke her heart. He gathered her up into his lap and held her close. She sobbed into his shoulder and he just held her silently.

* * *

Kate woke with a start, sitting straight up and clawing at her face. She tore out of the bed and into the bathroom, groping for the light. When it finally turned on, she saw a flash of red in the mirror before her eyes realigned with reality.

She touched her face, and let out a shuddering sigh. There was no blood on her face, or her hands. She was clean. She had showered.

But God, she could still see it. Splattered, smeared, streaked through with her tears. She had broken the rule. The one thing Clint didn't want her doing.

She had killed Brandt.

There was a knock on the door, and Kate jumped. She wiped tears off her cheeks and weakly called, "Just a second!"

"Kate? It's me."

She rested her forehead against the door, wondering whether she really wanted to let Noh-Varr in.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Yeah," she said quietly. Then she opened the door, and he only glanced over her before pulling her into a hug.

It caught her completely off guard, to say the least, but it wasn't at all unwelcome. He put his hands on her shoulders after a short moment, giving her a smile. His white hair was hanging in thick curtains around his face.

"Kate, you did the right thing yesterday."

"I know. Peter would have…"

"Killing doesn't come naturally to any of the higher life forms. If it did, we'd all be in trouble." He released her, and left the bedroom. He tossed over his shoulder, "It's almost eight. I'm going to go find something to eat."

Kate wondered what Noh-Varr had been through in his short life to give him the peace and wisdom he possessed. He never spoke much about his experiences out on other worlds, but she knew they weren't good ones.

She followed him out, and promptly stopped beside him. In the living room of the hotel suite, Tony was lying beside Laynie on the pull-out couch. Both of them were asleep, and Noh-Varr was majorly confused.

"What's he doing here?" Kate whispered.

"I don't know. I'm going to see if Peter does."

Kate waited in the doorway while Noh-Varr went to the other room. Carter and Peter had taken another pull-out couch, while Agent Morse was in the remaining room.

Both Peter and a very tired looking Carter followed Noh-Varr into the room, looking equally puzzled.

"When did he get here?"

"I have no clue," Peter answered. He ran a hand over his crazy hair, then looked over to Kate. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged.

"What time is it?" Carter asked. She rubbed at her eyes.

"It's just now eight," Bobbi replied from the mini kitchen.

All four of them startled, and Laynie's eyes opened wide. She looked as panicked as Kate had felt minutes ago.

Tony snorted in his sleep and woke up as she rolled out from under her arm, and calmed down upon seeing him. Her posture sagged, and her hand immediately went to her side.

Bobbi appeared in the doorway. "I think it's time we all talked."

The Young Avengers—and their older counterpart—shared a collective look before following her into the kitchenette. Each of them took a seat around the table they'd been at the night before, and Bobbi put two boxes of pizza on the counter.

Tony was the only one that moved toward the food, standing behind Laynie with a paper plate.

"Deadpool made a clean getaway. Coulson's got agents all over the world on the lookout for him."

"But that's not many agents, is it?" Peter asked.

Bobbi regarded him for a moment before answering. "Not compared to what SHIELD used to be. But Deadpool—"

"His name is Wade."

"Wade is a high-priority target. He's a killer, whether or not he used to be your friend, and we want him off the streets." She paused, giving Peter the opportunity to speak, and then carried on. "Brandt's body has been taken care of, and Mr. Vasilyev has offered us his thanks and future support. We haven't won the war, but we won this battle. Coulson was pleased with your results, and he asked me to extend his condolences about Mr. Wilson.

"He knew, didn't he?" Laynie asked quietly. Her voice cracked.

"You'll have to ask him next time you see him. For now, I'm headed back for the base. I'm needed."

"We understand," Tony said around a mouthful of pizza. "Tell Coulson we'll be having words."

She narrowed her eyes at Tony, then grabbed her bag and left without another word.

"Real friendly woman, that one," Carter remarked, reaching for a piece of pizza. "Is everyone okay? After yesterday?"

"I'm fine," Laynie and Kate said at the same time. They made eye contact, and each knew the other was lying.

There was a rift of silence. Kate and Laynie were the only ones not eating.

"I'm going to look for Wade," Peter announced. "Laynie, if you want to head back home and start building a network? Satellites, the works."

She sighed deeply, then shook her head. "I'm not going to look for him."

Everything at the table stopped. Carter gave her friend a look of concern.

"What...what do you mean?"

She looked up at Peter, and everyone could see that her eyes were glassy. "He's not himself anymore, Peter. They did something to him."

"That doesn't mean we should give up! Laynie, we've been looking high and low for months now. You can't just give up!"

She remained passive, loosely holding a hand over the bandage on her side. "He shot me. He tried to kill Noh-Varr twice. He didn't recognize me, or you, and nothing he said even sounded like him. He helped Brandt do God knows what…" She moved her hand to rest over her face. "I can't keep chasing his ghost."

Peter stiffened, and the anger bled out of him as quickly as it had filled him. Laynie clearly hadn't gotten any proper rest. Tony was standing behind her, both hands on her shoulders in a way that she would have normally protested. For God's sake, he should have known she wasn't alright just for the fact that she'd called him.

He huffed. "I'm sorry."

Carter patted his arm and gave him a thin smile.

Tony looked over the four teens, then down at Laynie. He still had one hand on her shoulder, but she was slouched forward on the table, resting her head on her arms. Her eyes weren't closed, rather staring into space.

They had each only slept for an hour before being woken. She'd cried and told him everything. Her mouth bled words until the sun rose, and finally her voice was too thin to talk or cry anymore.

He felt like a worthless man, standing behind her. Hearing all she'd been silently carrying hurt him in a way that he didn't know was possible.

He cleared his throat, then put his paper plate down. "Banner and Barton are on the way with a quinjet. They'll be here in two hours at the most. Peter, if you'd like to stay behind and look for your friend, I won't stop you. I will ask you to think of your aunt. And don't get yourself caught by the Russians because honestly an extraction would be a pain in the ass, okay?"

He nodded.

"Alright. Excuse us."

Tony patted Laynie's shoulder, and loosely held her elbow as she stood. He walked her straight back to the bedroom Agent Morse had vacated, closed the door, and sat her down on the bed. He turned and sat on the couch against the wall.

"Dad?"

"You have to sleep. I know you saw some stuff yesterday, but it only gets trippier if you don't sleep. Trust me."

She nodded, and pulled the thick covers up to her chin. Tony sat quietly on the other side of the room, checking things on his phone. He had no intention of leaving the room.

"Dad?"

"Yeah babe?"

Her head popped up over the mountain of blankets. "Could you...come sit over here?"

He gave her a grim smile, then patted her on the hip as he sat on the edge of the bed.


	15. Chapter 15

A few uneventful days passed in the Avengers tower. The Avengers themselves had little Avenging to do, and Tony made sure to clear his schedule in the wake of Laynie's secret field trip. Carter was left with little to do but entertain Laynie, whenever she wasn't with Tony.

A few days after the Russia mission, the doorbell rang and Carter went to get it, expecting an Avenger. She found Peter instead, looking thoroughly worn out, but hopeful.

"Peter, I didn't know you were home."

"Yeah," he said, rubbing a hand over his neck. "I just got back this morning."

Carter looked over her shoulder, where Laynie was laying on the couch, half asleep as she watched TV on her phone. She slipped out the door and shut it behind her. "Did you have any luck?"

Peter shook his head grimly. "No. Wade's...a ghost."

Carter's initial response was good. As far as she was concerned, it would be okay if they never saw Wade again. He'd caused too much hurt. But for as much as she disliked him, she still didn't want to hurt Peter. "I'm sorry," she said instead.

He shrugged. She could tell he was a lot more disappointed about it than he was letting on. "I'm not giving up. But I am taking the night off, and I was wondering if you'd like to go out and get a bite or something."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let me grab some shoes. Just, um, wait here? Laynie might not be completely excited to see you."

He nodded. "Yeah. I, uh, I need to fix that."

Carter gave him a pointed look that definitely agreed.

As they walked with arms linked toward the restaurant they'd decided on, Peter was quiet. Carter could tell he was tired, no doubt from late nights he'd been pulling, and horribly distracted.

"So, the past few days have been pretty crazy, huh?" she asked.

Peter sighed. "Yeah, pretty crazy."

"I didn't think we'd ever see Wade again..."

Peter sighed, then put on a smile. "Let's not talk about that right now. I just want us to... De-stress."

Carter smiled. "Yeah, alright." She stood on her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

Peter smiled at the kiss and put his arm around her waist as they walked. A few steps later, he stopped in his tracks and tilted his head as he listened. Over the bustle of the people around them, he could hear something else.

He shifted his hand to be holding Carter's, and ran a block. She was barely able to keep up with him. At the end of the block, they stopped again, and Carter could hear what Peter had been hearing. Sirens. Screaming. Gun shots.

People on the street began to flood toward them, and Peter instantly pulled Carter into a nearby alley.

"I'm gonna go check it out, I want you to go back home."

"What, Peter no."

"Carter, just follow the crowd, go home, I'll be fine." He pulled his shirt over his head, rolled down the sleeves of his suit, then took off his pants and shoes.

Carter watched with a little bit of disgust and a lot of fascination as he revealed his thin Spider-Man boots under his socks. After retrieving gloves and his mask from his backpack, he quickly pressed a kiss to her forehead and pushed the backpack into her arms before running off.

Carter adamantly refused to run. Instead, she opened the news on her phone and watched the live feed of what was happening a street over. The reporters exclaimed as Peter swung onto the scene, and she groaned.

There was a bank robbery in process. Four armed gunman, a lot of hostages.

Carter swung Peter's backpack over her shoulder and left the alley, looking across the street toward Peter, and down the street toward home. Shots were firing rapidly, and all of a sudden...they just stopped.

Her blood went cold. If they had stopped shooting, did that mean Peter—?

Carter took off running across the street, through a back street that could get her behind the bank. She had to know what was going on, even if that meant walking right into it. She had to make sure he was okay, both as his girlfriend, as his best friend, and as his teammate.

She crept into the alley behind the bank and hit behind a dumpster. Thankfully it was a bank dumpster, so it was mostly full of paper goods and thus didn't smell. Behind the bank, she creeped up to the back door. It was hanging open. The robbers might have used it to get in.

She turned on her phone and began opening her portable setup that Laynie had installed for her. She might be able to connect to the camera in Peter's lenses even if he hadn't turned it on, and she could contact the rest of the team for help. Not that Laynie or Kate would respond.

A few more shots went off in the building. Her stomach turned to ice.

A van screeched into the alley and Carter ducked farther into her hiding spot. The van door slid open, and she could hear a few men arguing inside. She tapped her phone against the palm of her hand, trying to get the systems to boot up faster. But even for a Stark phone, her Young Avengers UI was a heavy upload. The arguing in the van got more intense.

Her phone finally loaded, and the sensors inside Peter's suit gave him her vitals. Elevated, he was out of breath, and maybe hurt, but he was alive. So very much so. As relief washed over her, Carter realized the horrible gravity of the situation. She was sitting behind a dumpster while the getaway van sat in front of her. She had to get out of there.

She put her phone away and hesitated for a second. She didn't want to get caught, she didn't want to get hurt, but she didn't think staying put was the best idea. She could only hear Bruce in her head, making her swear to stay as far away from the action as possible.

She steeled herself, then bolted out of her hiding place.

She only made it a few yards before they caught her, two arms wrapping around her body and pinning her arms down.

"Let me go! Let me go!" She screamed and thrashed.

"The last thing we need is a brat like you going to the police," a rough voice said in her ear.

Carter stopped fighting as they walked her toward the van. Once they were within a few feet, she bit the arm of the man holding her, then turned and swung at the other. Her punch missed, but it threw him off long enough for her to turn tail and run.

She didn't even make it a foot, this time, before the first one was recovered enough to reach out and grab her. He might have been aiming for her shirt, but he ended up with a fistful of hair. She screamed and fought until he hit her in the back of the head. It stunned her, so for a moment, all she could do was take deep breaths.

"Peter," she called weakly.

She was stuffed into the back of the van, where the man, now with a sizable bite mark on his arm, zip tied her wrists together.

"I dunno if they're gonna make it out," the driver said nervously.

"They're gonna make it out, chill."

"You saw the Spider-Man go in there! They're gonna get killed!"

Bite Mark reached forward and smacked Driver on the back of the head. "You idiot, Spider-Man don't kill people."

"If they ain't out here in the next five minutes I'm leavin' without 'em. And what are we gonna do with the girl?"

Bite Mark turned around in his seat, and Carter stopped struggling for a moment. A grin curved across his face.

"I got an idea."

Next thing Carter knew, a gun was pressed to her temple and she was being pushed toward the bank. They shoved her through the back door, past the open and empty vault, and into the main lobby of the bank.

There, Peter was dodging bullets as the last man standing fired at random. He was on the ceiling, trying to keep hostages out of the line of fire.

"Stop!" Bite Mark shouted, pushing the barrel of the gun into Carter's temple.

She could barely breathe.

Spider-Man stopped moving as the shooter stopped, too, and dropped from the ceiling at the sight of Carter. His body was tense, hand slightly reaching toward her. "You let her go," he said slowly. "This is a fight between me and you."

He grinned. "See that's the thing, pal. We don't fight fair." He waved his friend over. "My buddy here is gonna take our bags, and we're gonna stand right here while he does it. When he's free and clear, I'm gonna walk out the back door and leave miss priss here."

Peter nodded slowly.

The robber went back to the vault, and shouted to his friend once he was done.

"Sit down," he told Peter. He obeyed, getting down on his knees and putting his hands on the back of his head.

Bite Mark slowly let go of Carter, backing away and keeping the gun trained on her head. Once he was behind the counter, he turned around and ran.

Peter jumped to his feet and grabbed Carter, holding her tightly. The hostages on the floor of the bank all cheered.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

Carter took in a ragged breath before nodding. Her hands shook slightly as Peter broke the zip-tie around her wrists.

Peter led her out the formerly barricaded front door. Upon seeing the doors open and the coast clear, the police rushed the front stairs. Peter pushed Carter into the hands of an officer. "Take her home. She's pretty shaken up."

Carter turned to say something, but Peter was already gone, swinging away from the scene.

* * *

Bruce had a few things to say. His seventeen year old daughter had left to go to dinner with her boyfriend, and come home with a red welt around her wrists, a bump on the back of her head, and a dazed look in her eye. Oh, and she was delivered by the police.

So yeah, he had some things to say.

Once she guided him through the whole story, he proceeded to tell her exactly how stupid her decisions had been. After that, he checked out the bump on her head and confirmed that she didn't have a concussion.

He sat down beside her with a tired sigh. "I'm glad you're okay. But going after Peter was one of the stupidest things you've ever done."

"I know. I'm sorry." Carter couldn't meet Bruce's eyes.

Bruce pulled her in close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's okay. Just don't let it happen again, alright?"

"Okay." She gave him a grim smile. "Peter's not going to be happy with me."

There was a knock on the door, and Bruce stood to answer it.

"Speak of the devil," he said.

Peter walked in with a fresh bruise on his cheek, already an ugly rainbow of purples and reds. He was holding his ribs, but he shooed Bruce away when he tried to look at it.

"I'll give you two a few minutes." Bruce stepped out of his own apartment without another word.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, standing awkwardly in the center of the room.

"I'm fine." Carter said quietly.

"Good." He was quiet for a second, then burst out, "What were you thinking?"

"Peter, I'm really sorry—"

"No! What if you hadn't made it out of there? What if instead of using you, that guy had just shot you in the head? Sorry wouldn't have cut it then!"

"Peter, it-"

"I just— I never realized how easy it would be for you to get hurt around me. I thought I could protect you, keep you safe…How could you be so stupid?"

Carter flew out of her seat. "Okay, you need to calm down. It may not have been my best decision, but I thought something had happened. I didn't hear any more gun shots and I was worried. I thought—I thought you were dead, Peter!"

"But you couldn't have done anything about it! When I'm in a tight spot, I need you to run the other direction so I can take care of stuff. I can't have you running around and making a hostage of yourself all the time!"

"What the fuck, Peter?! I didn't make myself into a hostage, I didn't ask to be taken at gunpoint. I'll admit I acted irrationally, but I thought I lost you! Can you stop being a asshole for two seconds?"

He worked his jaw uselessly for a second. "I can't do this with you, Carter. I mean, what the hell?"

"What, are you breaking up with me?"

"Yeah, sure, like we were dating for more than two weeks anyway. It doesn't even matter, Carter." Peter turned and went for the door.

Carter faltered. "It mattered to me…" she said softly.

"I'm sorry." He couldn't even look at her before he left.

Carter fell back, stunned, into Bruce's couch. Silent tears streamed down her face, but she couldn't even begin to process what had just happened. After everything they'd been through in the last year, in the last week, he'd just...ruined it. Just like that.

Bruce walked in some time later, and ran to Carter as soon as he saw her.

"Carter, what's wrong?" He wiped tears away with his thumbs and tried to get her to look at him. "What did Peter do?"

"He..." She sniffled, then looked up at Bruce. "He broke up with me."

That was it. The reality finally settled on Carter, and the floodgates were opened. She leaned into Bruce and sobbed.

Bruce held her close, trying to contain his rage. He'd thought Peter would be better. He thought things would be different. Carter would finally be happy. But he'd turned out to be just another James. Just another punk who quit when the going got rough. Just another heartbreak for his baby girl.

After soaking Bruce's shirt with tears, Carter retreated to her shared apartment with Laynie.

Laynie was watching a movie when Carter made her entrance.

Plopping down beside her best friend, she leaned her head on Laynie's shoulder.

"Carter, are you okay?" Laynie asked, turning her attention to the other girl.

"No." Carter answered bluntly. "Not really."

Laynie grabbed the box of tissues from the side table and started petting Carter's hair. "Do you want to tell me what happened or...?"

"Peter broke up with me." Carter said, grabbing a couple of tissues from the box.

"Holy crap," Laynie said under her breath. "What happened? Do you want me to kick his ass for you?"

Carter laughed mirthlessly. "No, I mean it's kinda my fault. I might have followed him when he went after some bank robbers." Carter admitted, waiting for yet another lecture.

"Oh." Laynie was quiet for a moment. She handed Carter another tissue when she sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Carter sighed, "Anyway, how about you?"

"I'm okay," she said quietly. "My side's starting to heal up. Bruce is going to take the stitches out in a few days."

"That's good." Carter said with a nod.

Laynie laughed all of a sudden. "Aren't we a mess? I mean, seriously, our lives are a wreck."

Carter laughed with her. "I'm not sure our lives will ever go back to normal." She leaned her head on Laynie's shoulder.

"Yeah. I guess we kinda signed up for that." Laynie sighed and leaned into her friend. "At least we'll always have each other though, right? I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Yeah, as long as we have each other I think we'll be okay." Carter smiled. "Wanna go raid the fridge? I'm pretty sure somebody got some more ice cream today."

Laynie took Carter's hand and stood. "To the freezer!"

Minutes later, they were both huddled together on the main floor, in separate chairs on the same side of the table, wrapped in the same blanket while eating ice cream straight out of the carton. Avengers passed by without making any comments. Sam tried to steal a bite of ice cream, but they swatted his hands away with their spoons.

Laynie put her spoon in her mouth and dug her phone out of her pajama pants pocket. "I gof a teft from Kate," she said around the spoon.

Carter removed the spoon from her friend's mouth as she started to read the text aloud.

"'We all need to get together and talk about our next move.'"

Kate had sent the text to Carter, Laynie, Peter, and Noh-Varr.

"Noh said he's game." Laynie put her phone face down and kept eating.

"Are you going?"

Laynie stared down at the carton. "I guess I should. I just...I feel like it's time to throw in the towel. And I know they won't agree."

"Hey," Carter frowned, "things will get better. Alright?" She said, reassuring her friend.

Laynie wanted to argue, but she just didn't have the energy. She scratched at her wrist and picked her phone up. "Kate says we'll meet on Friday. What's today?"

"Monday."

"Okay. Uh, Carter, if Peter's gonna be there...you don't have to come, okay?"

Carter sighed. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes**_

 _Lartovio:_ Hey guys! Sorry we've been so spotty with the updates. Real life, and such. Thanks for your patience and continued support!


	16. Chapter 16

As Laynie came out of her room, squinting at the general brightness of the apartment, Carter gave her a wave from the table in the kitchen. She grunted in response.

"Good morning, Gollum," she quipped.

"The light," Laynie hissed, going with it, "it _burnsss_ us."

Carter laughed, shoving a box of cereal toward her as she sat down. "How late were you up last night?"

"Dunno." Laynie took a handful of honeycomb straight from the bag and munched on it. "I couldn't get to sleep last night. Just...thinking about everything. My brain is loud."

Carter nodded. "Understandable."

They munched their cereal down in silence, then moved to the living room a while later. Laynie played around on her phone while Carter flipped through channels.

"Miss Stark," JARVIS said, startling both of them.

"What's up?"

"Mr. Stark has requested your presence in his suite."

Laynie stared off, thinking about the request. "Is Pepper here?" she asked quietly.

There was a pause. JARVIS was probably asking Tony if he could answer the question. "He insists you come up."

Laynie looked over at Carter. "I guess that's a yes."

"Good luck," Carter offered her a supportive smile.

Laynie went slowly, literally dragging her feet along the carpet and shuffling the entire elevator ride. She was finding that she really didn't want to see Pepper.

When the elevator doors opened on her dad's floor, his door was standing open. She could see Pepper on the couch, sitting with her back straight, wearing a sky blue dress that made her look like she had just come out of a meeting.

She thought about closing the elevator doors and dodging the situation, but it was too late. Pepper spotted her.

Laynie froze like a deer in the headlights with Pepper's eyes on her.

Tony came through the doorway a second later, interrupting the eye contact. He was wearing a tank top and sweatpants, looking like he'd woken up even more recently than Laynie.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little smile. He was nervous, too.

She sighed. If nothing else, she had to stick around to be his wingman. She felt that she owed him that much.

Pepper stood as they entered again, door closing behind them. She wrung her hands, eyes darting between them. "Laynie," she said. She opened her mouth to say more, then closed it, and opened again. "There's nothing I can say that makes what I did okay."

"You shouldn't have left."

She shook her head just slightly. "You're right."

There was a long, awkward silence. All of them sat, one by one.

Standing face to face with her, Laynie found that she really wasn't ready to forgive Pepper. She had lost _so much_ in her life, felt so much pain. Her first instinct at that point was detachment. When Pepper left, Laynie pretended that it didn't bother her, and kept pretending until it finally didn't. More or less, Laynie just didn't care about Pepper. She wanted her dad to be happy, and if Pepper was what it would take to make that happen, she was fine with it.

But for better or worse, Laynie didn't need Pepper to be happy.

Laynie stood abruptly. She wanted to leave, right then, but something stopped her. She swayed on her feet.

"Laynie?"

She looked down at her dad, who was looking at her with concern.

"Have you two talked?"

Slowly, he shook his head no.

"You need to talk first," she said, suddenly sure of the fact.

Again, Pepper stood up. "Laynie, I'm worried about you. Maria's been keeping me in the loop, with what you're doing…"

"Iron Defender." She laughed. "What are you worried about?"

"You're going to get hurt, Laynie. This job isn't for you."

"Who are you to tell me that?" Laynie cried. "You haven't been here for _months_! You—you abandoned me, Pepper."

"I know, I know." Tears were gathering in her eyes. "I didn't realize what I was doing."

"No, stop." Laynie ran her hands through her hair. "I can't. Not right now." She took a few steps toward the door. "You two figure out where you stand, and...I don't know. We'll figure it out from there."

She shut the door behind her before they could say a word to her.

Pepper sat heavily when Laynie closed the door behind her. It wasn't a slam, rather, a calm _click_. Laynie didn't seem angry, she seemed...sad.

Tony sat forward and sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"What just happened?"

"She doesn't want to talk."

"I gathered as much," she snapped. Her voice was sharp, but when he looked up, Tony caught her dabbing at her eyes.

"I do want to talk, Pep."

Her piercing eyes fell on him, nose aloft in the air. "What is there to talk about, Tony? You put Iron Man above me—again. I'm fed up of playing second fiddle to—"

"Stop. Shut up," Tony said, putting his head back in his hands.

"—a machine! Get the grease out of your ears and listen, Tony! I meant everything I said when—"

"Stop!" Tony stood, and Pepper shrank back almost unnoticeably. "Pepper, I love you. I didn't mean _anything_ I said. I told you as much."

She didn't say anything, so he went on.

"Cap was in the hospital, I was trying to scrape together the last remnants of SHIELD—"

"SHIELD, which was actually Hydra."

"Yes! Which Steve had just finished kicking in the a—"

"Which is still out there causing trouble! Which you're letting Laynie get into! I can't _believe_ you would even make her an armor, let alone allow her to use it! What happened to her face?"

Tony felt his nostrils flaring as anger rose in his chest. "She saved the life of a girl last week. She kept Hydra from causing a hailstorm in Russia."

"She got hurt."

"Well you'll be ecstatic to know that she's quitting."

Pepper swallowed hard, and nothing else was said for a while. Tony paced some more.

He stopped in front of Pepper once, then made another round before he worked up the nerve to speak. "Do you still want to marry me?"

She looked at her lap. "I think we should take a break, Tony."

Her voice broke. Tony's heart went with it.

He clapped his hands together and turned around. "Yeah, okay. You can try to see Laynie on the way out. If she wants to see you."

* * *

Laynie closed her apartment door behind her and leaned on it. Her heart was beating heavily, and she had a deep feeling of dread in her stomach. Her entire being just felt heavy with the weight of everything.

But, annoyingly, she didn't feel like crying.

Carter turned, still on the couch, and saw Laynie standing there, staring at the ceiling.

"Layn," She stood up. "Are you alright?" She came to stand next to her friend.

Laynie flopped her head on Carter's shoulder. "Let's run away. Except take Bruce and my dad, and we'll go to a beach or something and pretend everything else doesn't exist."

"As good as that sounds, I don't think that's an option." Carter patted her head.

Laynie rubbed her eyes and sighed. "I understand why you had trouble with Bruce. I didn't, but I do now. Pepper isn't anything like my mom. She's...she's just not my mom. She doesn't care enough."

Carter bit her lip. "Laynie, you have every right to be angry, I'm not saying you don't. But, Pepper does care. She really does."

"Why'd she leave me then?" There it was. Laynie rubbed her eyes again as tears tried to escape, then took a few steps away from Carter.

Carter sighed, "Laynie, I don't know. That's something you'll have to ask her."

Laynie scrubbed a tear off her cheek. "I don't want to talk to her. I'm just gonna hide in here all day."

For a moment, Laynie was going to suggest inviting Peter and Kate over for some therapy gaming, but she stopped short when she remembered everything that was going on. Carter was her only lifeline at the moment, unless she was willing to leave the safety of her apartment and seek out another Avenger. She could use some Thor wisdom...

"Laynie?"

Carter had moved into the kitchen. Laynie followed her around the corner and smiled when she saw her. She was holding up two cartons of ice cream—Laynie's favorite, and Carter's.

"Disney Channel is running movies all day today."

"You're an angel on earth, Carter."

Laynie was going for the spoons, until their doorbell rang and her heart stopped.

She looked up to Carter, panicked, and her friend wordlessly went to the door.

"Hi, Carter. How are you doing?"

Laynie winced at Pepper's voice around the corner. If she was steady through talking to Tony, it couldn't mean good things.

"Oh hi... Pepper, I'm good. How are you?" Carter stammered through a greeting.

"I'm well, thank you." Pepper answered politely.

The two stood in silence for a moment, before Carter said awkwardly, "Um, do you want to come in?"

"That would nice, thank you."

Carter stepped back and opened the door a little wider to allow Pepper to enter. "No problem."

Pepper went to sit on the couch in the middle of the apartment.

"I'll be right back." Carter said before rushing into the kitchen.

"Carter," Laynie hissed, "why did you let her in?"

Carter looked at Laynie with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting her and I panicked."

Laynie sighed. "It's okay, just—ugh." She passed Carter and entered the living room with her head held as high as possible.

"Laynie, I know you're angry with me."

"Understatement."

"And I really screwed up."

"Yes."

"But I do love you. You know that, don't you?"

There was no witty response there.

"I'm leaving again...I have a meeting in Beijing tomorrow about some...it doesn't matter. I just wanted to offer for you to come along."

"Did you talk to Dad?"

"Laynie."

"Did you?"

She sighed, looking away. "We're going to take a break."

Laynie laughed loudly. "Right. Well thanks for the offer Pepper, but I'm gonna stay here."

Pepper nodded, looking away as she swept a tear off her cheek. "That's fine. You—you stay safe, okay?"

Laynie didn't say anything. She couldn't think of anything _to_ say.

"This isn't what I wanted to happen."

"What else did you expect?" Laynie didn't mean it to come out sounding like it did, but really...this was the only logical outcome.

Pepper stepped forward and put her hands on Laynie's shoulders. She kissed her forehead, paused for a moment, and finally left.

"Laynie..." Carter breathed.

Laynie took in a shuddering breath, then went to her room.


	17. Chapter 17

"Thanks for coming to this with me, Noh-Varr." Carter thanked the alien boy as they entered the large ballroom.

The Avengers had been asked to make an appearance for a charity event and the girls had been dragged along too.

"Of course," Noh-Varr grinned. "Who wouldn't want to be with someone as pretty as you?"

Carter blushed, "Aw, Noh-Varr, stop."

"Have you and Peter talked recently?" Noh-Varr inquired.

The smile on Carter's face faltered. "I'd rather not talk about Peter right now, okay?"

Noh-Varr nodded in understanding. "Alright."

It was at that moment Laynie appeared.

"Hey," she greeted them.

Noh-Varr smiled, "Hello Laynie."

"Hey," Carter said. "Where's Tony?"

"Talking to some of the event coordinators or something." Laynie answered.

"Ah," She nodded.

"Where's Bruce?" Laynie asked.

"He had something he had to do, but he said he'd be here later."

"You sure he's gonna be okay with... you know..." Laynie nodded her head toward Noh-Varr who was busy admiring the large ballroom.

"Maybe, I don't know." Carter shrugged.

Laynie shook her head, barely containing a smile. "You're in deep, my friend."

Tony appeared behind her just as Carter walked away, toward her date.

"For future reference, the answer is no."

Laynie grinned at him, then looked back to Noh-Varr. "Really? I mean, underneath the great butt and the hair and all, he is really sweet."

Tony cocked an eyebrow at her, not even dignifying that with a response. "This week is shaping up to be a real disaster, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Two break ups, one team torn apart..."

"Three breakups," he said quietly. "She left you, too this time."

Before Laynie even had time to react, Tony's expression turned wry, with a cocky smile on his face as he extended his arm to her. It was like whiplash.

"Miss Stark," he said. "May I have the next dance?"

"Certainly, Mr. Stark."

They walked out arm in arm, barely noticing as they passed Carter and Noh-Varr.

"He's not here, you know," Noh-Varr said.

Carter's attention went back to him when he spoke. "I know. I mean—uh, who?"

Noh-Varr laughed. "Carter, perhaps it would have been better for us to attend an event where you would have been able to actually make him jealous?"

Carter huffed. "That's not what this is about, Noh-Varr."

Noh-Varr smiled knowingly. "Whatever you say."

"Now, do you want to dance or what, space boy?"

Noh-Varr grabbed her hand in response and dragged her out to the dance floor.

Carter felt her face flush as Noh-Varr pulled her close, putting his hands in the appropriate places. They began to dance...quite against the pace of the song playing.

"Noh, um, I don't think this is a waltz kind of song."

He looked up from their feet and gave her a rather sheepish smile. "I only had time to learn one standard earth dance in the time provided."

Carter snorted and let her head fall down onto his shoulder. "Oh Noh-Varr," She said with a laugh.

Carter lifted her head to see Noh-Varr smiling down at her. "It's good to see you laugh."

He lifted her up and spun her around.

"Noh-Varr, no," She giggled.

He set her back down on her feet, then bumped into her as a twirling couple hit him in the back. They apologized, but he laughed it off.

Carter took a step away from him. She was definitely blushing.

"Sorry Carter. We don't have to dance."

"No, no, it's okay. Um, here." Carter took his hands and put one in her own, the other on her hip. "The theme of the ball is Gatsby. Have you read the Great Gatsby?"

"I have watched the movie adaptation!"

She laughed. Noh-Varr was all about movies and music. "Well the kind of dancing they did back then was called swing dancing. It's...like waltzing, but with a different rhythm. There's a lot more moving."

"Yes, I understand." He tightened his hand on hers and grinned.

Man, he looked good in a suit.

"Right. Yeah, you just, um."

"I'll let you lead."

Carter jumped into the rhythm of the music, swaying back and forth. Noh-Varr followed along with me.

Both of them winced as he stepped on her foot.

"It's okay!" She said quickly. "Keep going."

Noh-Varr continued to really pick it up quickly. By the end of the song, he was leading. During the next song, he spun her out and back in.

She laughed as she hit his chest, melting into him. "You're a fast learner!"

He laughed, too, and they danced until they were interrupted by a hand on Carter's shoulder.

"Mind if I have the next dance?" A familiar voice requested.

Carter looked over her shoulder and found Bruce behind her.

"Of course," Noh-Varr nodded, "I'll see you in a little while, Carter."

Carter laughed nervously, "Oh hey, Bruce. How's it going?" She asked as he pulled her out farther onto the dance floor.

Bruce managed to continue dancing flawlessly while giving her his best unamused deadpan.

"I'm doing fine, other than the feeling of bitter betrayal."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic."

"Carter, I know you're upset about Peter—"

"No, that's not what's going on. Noh-Varr offered to come with me as a friend so I wouldn't be alone. That's all."

"I gave you one guy you couldn't date. One guy."

"Bruce, come on. This isn't really a date. He's my friend."

"Alright. Whatever you say."

He twirled her around and stopped on the edge of the dance floor. "I'll let you return to your not-date, then."

Carter rolled her eyes. "Thank you."

"And just so you know, this conversation isn't over." Bruce said, arms crossed over his chest.

She groaned. "I kind of figured as much." She found Noh-Varr leaning against the wall with a couple of drinks.

He handed her one while he took a sip of his own.

Carter saw Laynie and Tony laughing, talking to a few of the charity's benefactors. They looked happier than she had seen the pair of them in months.

"Are you alright?"

Carter looked up and nodded. "I'm not really into these kinda things."

"I'm not either," he said. "I find socializing with those you don't want to socialize with tiring."

They were quiet for a few minutes, leaning against the wall and watching the crowds.

"Would your father be adverse to the idea of us leaving to get some dessert?"

"Yes. Let's do it anyway."

They left quickly, like a couple of ninja, and went to a hole in the wall ice cream place a few blocks down. After a cone of cake batter and the night in Noh-Varr's company, Carter was feeling a lot better than she had been.

On the walk back to the tower, Noh-Varr asked, "Do you think our team will be disbanded permanently?"

She sighed. "I dunno."

They were mostly quiet until they were in the elevator, when it was Carter who broke the silence this time.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight."

"I enjoyed it," he said with a grin. "We should go out again sometime. As friends," he amended quickly.

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, as friends."

They stopped in front of her door while she typed the code into the keypad on the handle.

"Carter?"

She turned toward him in the dim hallway. "Yeah?"

Noh-Varr slowly cupped her face in his hands and leaned down, haltingly. She rose on her toes to meet him.

The way Noh-Varr kissed...Carter had never been kissed like this before. She had dated James, who didn't care, and Peter, who cared too much. Both of them were quick and safe kissers, too scared of her parents or themselves to do anything more.

But Noh-Varr had none of those inhibitions. He kissed her long and slow, with his hands on her waist and in her hair and everywhere, really. She was too absorbed in his lips to pay attention to where his hands were. They moved slowly, but not carefully. He knew he was good at it.

Yeah, Bruce definitely wouldn't like this.

He broke away and just breathed silently for a moment, then kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight," he said quietly.

The very next second, he was gone. Disappeared down the stairwell.

"I've got to stop kissing my friends," she whispered in the dark.

She pulled off her heels and walked to her room.

Stripping herself of the long gown she was in, she changed into a sweatshirt and shorts and flopped onto her bed.

Her mind was racing after that kiss. Where did that come from? I thought we were just friends. She wondered.

The butterflies she felt in her stomach when Noh-Varr kissed her were still there.

She hadn't even thought about Noh-Varr as anything more than a friend before now.

She thought about what Peter would think.

She snorted. "Why do I care what he thinks? He dumped me." She said under her breath.

"What am I gonna do?" She groaned.

After a while, she pushed herself off her bed and went to raid the fridge.

As she rifled through it, she heard a cheerful ding signaling that the elevator had arrived at their apartment.

"Carter, you home?" She heard Laynie ask.

"In the kitchen." She replied.

Laynie came in and found her friend sitting on the floor with a pint of ice cream. "Are you okay?"

"I'm having some emotional issues." Carter answered bluntly.

Laynie made an "aww" sound and sat on the floor beside Carter, still wearing her flapper-style dress. "I thought you'd be asleep for sure. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Wait, how late is it?"

"It's almost two AM. Dad and I lost track of time. Clint got a little tipsy, and we might have been having fun with that in a meanish way. But anyway. Emotional issues?"

"Noh-Varr kissed me."

Laynie's eyes went wide, then she laughed. Then she clamped her hands over her mouth. "Okay, I will gladly trade lives with you now. He kissed you?"

Carter nodded. "I'm conflicted. I keep thinking about what Peter would say. And then again, I don't know if I really care what he would say. But at the same time, I don't want to be the girl who breaks up with a boy and immediately gets together with another one." She laid her head on Laynie's shoulder. "What do I do?"

Laynie petted her head. "I don't know, Carter. I think what Peter did was really stupid, but I don't know if it's such a great idea for you to just...pick up with Noh-Varr."  
Carter sighed. "You're right." She looked up at Laynie. "After he broke up with me, I thought I wanted to try and get back together with him. But, I don't know now. He just seems like too much sometimes. You know?"

"He can be a little over the top. I mean, he's a great guy, and I think you two could make it work, but I know where you're coming from. I think maybe you need to look at who will make you happiest, who will support you the most, and go from there. And...maybe you need to take a break altogether."

"Yeah, maybe." Carter yawned. "You're a really great friend, you know that?"

Laynie smirked and nodded. "You've told me once or twice. Get some sleep, Cupid."

Carter nodded, gave her friend a hug, then disappeared into her room.

Carter was awakened the next day by JARVIS.

She looked at the clock on her nightstand. 11:43 AM.

"What is it JARVIS?"

"Miss Banner, you're father wishes to see you."

"Um, I'm kinda busy..." She said pulling the covers over herself again. "Can I go see him later?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Mr. Banner apologizes for the interruption of your sleep, but kindly suggests you remove yourself from your bed immediately."

"Something tells me he isn't that sorry." She muttered throwing the covers off." She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around herself before trudging to the elevator.

She pushed the button for Bruce's apartment.

It was entirely too short of a ride for her liking.

The doors slid open and she stepped inside.

Bruce was sitting on the couch reading a book. He looked up from the book momentarily to glance at her, before motioning to the couch beside him.

She took a deep breath and came to sit next to him.

They sat there for a while, just sitting in the quiet.

"You know, I could be sleeping right now." She said, feeling sassy.

He turned the page. "How nice."

Carter huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Two could play this game.

The pair sat quietly, the only sound coming from turning to the next page in his book.

Carter started to tap her fingers on her upper arm, wishing that Bruce would just get the lecture over with.

But he didn't. He just sat there. Reading.

Absolutely infuriating.

She groaned internally and laid her head back.

She couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and looked at him. "Is this about Noh-Varr?"

Bruce looked over his glasses at her. "Should it be? Did something happen?"

His tone clearly said he already knew.

"No," she answered dragging out the vowel, "of course not." She scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

He knows. What should I do? She thought panicking. Deny everything.

"So you didn't slip out of the function last night, have ice cream, then come back to have a lengthy make out session in the hallway? In full view of the security cameras?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "Wasn't me."

"Hm." He turned the page again. "It's funny, JARVIS gave me a data pack this morning of social media posts containing pictures of two Young Avengers members, and a video feed of some kids making out outside your apartment. Could have sworn it was you."

"Well, you must be mistaken. Because that was not me."

Bruce closed the book. "Alright. Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I have no clue what you mean."

His voice got soft. "Really, Carter. You broke up with Peter a week ago. I don't think it's good for you to get into a relationship again so quickly."

"He broke up with me," she snapped. "And besides, I'm almost eighteen. Practically an adult. I can make my own decisions, so stay out of it."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you." He didn't point out how she had just turned seventeen, or how she was doing a very bad job at making her own decisions.

Carter crossed her arms over her chest once more and turned away. "Can I go now?"

"No." Bruce took off and his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you dating Noh-Varr?" He asked very bluntly.

"No."

"Do you want to date him?"

"...I don't know." She hesitated.

"Do you want help figuring that out?"

She bit her lip and thought about it for a second.

Bruce sighed, "I just want to help, Carter. I want to know you're making good decisions."

She nodded hesitantly. "I guess that would be okay."

Bruce wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on the head. "I love you. Even if you do date dumb space boys."

Carter rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Bruce." She leaned into his side. "Sorry for being a brat."

"It's okay. I know you can't help it." He teased.

She elbowed him in the side gently. "Rude."

"Doctor Banner, your presence is urgently needed in the laboratory."

Bruce glanced to Carter, then scrambled to the elevator. Carter ran after him.

When they skidded into the lab, half of the Avengers were already gathered there, surrounding what was normally one of Tony's workspaces. All of the clutter had been swept to the floor, and Natasha was laying across it instead. Laynie was on one side of her, pressing what was hopefully a clean cloth into a wound, and Clint was on the other side doing the same. Tony was standing behind Laynie, scribbling down notes as Natasha spoke. Steve was off to the side, thumbing through a few file folders.

Bruce defaulted to where Laynie stood over the biggest wound. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Natasha said, sitting up. Three hands touched her all at once, pushing her back down. "I'd hardly call it urgent. I took a few glancing strays."

"Right," Bruce mumbled. He turned to one of his workspaces and pulled out a massive first aid kit. Carter wheeled a cart over for him to put it on, and stood by as his nurse.

He donned gloves and scooted in beside Laynie. "How long ago?"

"Day...and a half."

Bruce wasn't sure why Natasha hesitated, but he knew it couldn't be good. Natasha didn't hesitate.

"She's lost more blood than she's letting on," Laynie said quietly. Clint nodded to confirm it.

"Anything else we need to know, Nat?" Tony asked, pen hovering above his tablet.

She shook her head no.

Bruce pushed Laynie away as he no longer needed her to cover the bleeding, and Tony stepped in for Carter as his nurse. He handed Bruce supplies and tore open packaging when needed.

Carter and Laynie left the lab. Carter pretended not to notice, but Laynie's blood-covered hands were shaking. She guided her friend toward the kitchen.

"What's going on?"

Laynie turned the tap on hot with her wrist and rinsed, then pumped half a bottle of soap on her hands. "Nat showed up bleeding and limping, security called it in. Steve and Clint went down to get her, and she said she had important info. Apparently she has intel on Loki's staff that she wanted to make sure was heard."

Laynie dried her hands off and sat at the counter. "That was a little jarring. Like, I'm awake now."

Carter laughed. "Me too. I got an early morning interrogation from Bruce."

"Ooh, about Noh-Varr? How'd that go?"

"Not well at first. But we're okay now." Carter shrugged. "I don't think he's entirely happy with the whole thing, but he's not mad."

"Hey, if he's not mad, take it."

Carter sat down beside Laynie. "How are you doing? I mean, with Pepper and everything."

She sighed. "I'm okay. I'll be okay. I'm just glad Tony and I aren't fighting anymore. I...I still want to be in my suit. But I'm not doing it at the cost of my relationship with him."

"But it is going to affect your relationship, especially if you're unhappy." Carter said softly.

Laynie groaned. "No, no. I'm going to be content. I just need to find a hobby or something. Besides, Carter, our team is a mess. Kate and Peter pretty much want my head right now, and you're dating half of the team. No offense."

"None taken." Carter shrugged. "I mean, it's true." She grinned slightly.

Laynie laughed. "I think even if I do end up in my suit again, someday, it'll have to be alone. I'm apparently not a fantastic team player."

"It's less of a problem with just you, and more of one with the five of us as a whole." Carter pointed out.

"It feels like my fault," Laynie said. "If I was a better leader, if I wasn't such a mess, maybe we wouldn't be falling apart." She shook her head and stood. "I'm gonna go check on Nat."

Carter nodded and followed after her friend.

Bruce had patched up the wound Laynie had been tending to, and Clint was leaving to wash his hands when the girls came back in. Steve and Tony were standing to the side, talking in hushed tones over the folders that Steve had. Laynie went to her dad's side, while Carter went to Natasha's.

Tony stopped talking when Laynie approached.

"Oh, come on. You know you can trust me."

He hesitated, glancing toward Steve. "I know this is sensitive information. And I know Nat about killed herself to get it to us...and I don't want it getting to your team."

Laynie noted how he said "your team" in a completely serious way. There wasn't even a hint of a condescending or mocking tone. "You know it won't."

"Okay." He pushed a few pictures toward her. Covertly taken images of an aging man.

"Baron von Strucker. He's suspected to have taken the staff," Steve said. "We already suspected this, but Natasha's been tracking him personally. Which is something we weren't able to do."

Laynie sifted through a few of the papers. They were mostly logs, handwritten by Natasha, on Strucker's movements over the last few months."

"Russia? That's a big country."

"I lost him there," Natasha said across the room. "He was waiting with company that I wasn't expecting."

Laynie chewed on her bottom lip, looking at a map Natasha had marked with known Hydra assets. "It'll only take you a few weeks to find him with all this. You were thorough, Nat."

She gave them a knowing smile.

Steve took the papers and put them back in the folder. "We're hoping it will take less than that."

Laynie stuck around for a few minutes longer as Steve and Tony talked strategy, which eventually faded into bantering and went completely off subject. She drifted away then, appearing at Natasha and Carter's side.

Bruce had removed his gloves, and was giving Natasha a stern talking to about caring for the wounds and taking a very long nap. When he was done, he looked to the girls and said, "Follow her up to her room, make sure she doesn't...pass out in the elevator or something."

Natasha gave that a ghost of an amused smile, then swung her legs off the table. She swayed on her feet almost imperceptibly, then tailed Laynie and Carter to the elevator.

"You just showed up all of the Avengers in a massive way," Laynie said, pushing the 'up' button.

"How's that?"

"They've been looking tirelessly for Strucker and the staff ever since you left, and you just practically dropped him in their laps."

She leaned against the wall. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

Nothing else was said until they were in Natasha's apartment, and they had seen her settled into her couch.

"Hey," she said to Carter, "how's it going with Peter?"

Carter raised an eyebrow. "How...?"

"Clint gives me updates."

"Oh." Carter furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why Clint is talking to Natasha about his love life. "We're not talking right now."

Natasha nodded. After a moment, she said in a soft voice. "I'm sorry he hurt you."

"I"m okay." Carter shrugged.

"Alright. But if you ever want to talk, I'm here." The older woman said with small smile.

Carter returned the smile. "Thanks."

"Laynie, you were looking good in the suit." She said it almost wistfully, giving her a pointed look.

Laynie smiled grimly. "I dunno how thorough Clint's updates were, but I'm not really speaking to my team right now." She sat down on the coffee table. "Carter and I are a mess."

"You'll figure it out. You're smart girls. And if you need anything, I'm here now. Hopefully for a while."

"Thanks Nat. Get some rest."

After Natasha disappeared into her apartment the girls decided to head to their own apartment. They were halfway there when JARVIS announced. "MIss Stark, Miss Banner, you have a visitor."

"Who is it?" Carter asked.

"Miss Bishop. She is currently waiting in the living room."

Laynie groaned. "Thank you, JARVIS."

"Of course, Miss Stark."

Carter turned to her friend. "So, we going to see Kate?"

Laynie shrugged. "I guess so. I just hope she's not here to yell at me more."

Carter shrugged. "I don't think she'll do that." She pressed a button for the living room floor.

Kate was on their couch, playing on her phone when they came in. She didn't look up right away. When she did, it was directly at Laynie.

"I have been a phenomenal jerk. Clint-levels of stupidity came out of my mouth the other day, and I'm really sorry."

Laynie nodded. "It was really stupid."

Kate smiled, a little uneasily. "Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, Kate. I'm sorry too. I do feel bad abandoning the team but..."

"Laynie, at the end of the day, you are more important than the team. I know what you went through to get us there and if you don't think it's worth it, then...neither do I."

Laynie stepped forward and hugged Kate around the neck. It took her a little by surprise at first, but after a second, she patted Laynie's shoulder.

"Come on, Carter," Laynie said. "We gotta group hug it out."

Carter rolled her eyes, but joined in on the group hug nonetheless. "At least that's one less thing we have to worry about."

"I mean, no offense, but your lives are kind of a wreck."

Laynie groaned as Carter laughed.

The three girls piled onto the living room couch.

"So, have you talked to Peter?" Kate asked gently.

Carter shook her head. "No... but I might have sort of kissed... Noh-Varr." Carter said hesitantly.

"Oh..." Kate's eyes widened. "You've been busy then, huh?

Laynie snickered. "We have two male members of the team and she's successfully kissed both of them."

"Well, I mean, I'm not a superhero like you two, I have to entertain myself somehow." Carter joked.

Laynie outright snorted, and Kate giggled.

"Since I quit, can I kiss him too?" Laynie asked.

"I mean, it is Noh-Varr. He's pretty much up for anything."

"Oh, be nice," Kate said. "He's not like that." She sat forward and put her chin in her hands. "Tell me everything. Were you expecting it?"

Carter shook her head wildly. "No. Not at all. Truth be told, he did most of the kissing." Carter blushed. "I mostly just stood there in shock."

"Ugh, that's so romantic. And right Peter, too? Are you trying to get him back?"

Carter sighed. "I don't think so." Leaning back into the couch. "It's just... I don't know. If all it takes for him to break up with me is for me to do one stupid thing, then do I really want to try and get back together with him? I love Peter, but..." She groaned. "I don't know."

"It's gonna be awkward for a while, to say the least," Laynie said. "I love Peter too, but I'm kinda rooting for Noh-Varr. It might be his butt, I don't know."

"Both of them have pretty great butts," Kate pointed out. "Thank god for spandex."

"This is such a weird conversation."


End file.
